


Strange Biology

by DarkSideOfMe



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (it's Snoke), Alcohol, Alien Invasion, Alien Pregnancy, Anal Sex, Biology students, Blood and Gore, Body Snatchers AU, Brain Worms, Breeding, Cannabis, Cat and Mouse, Dark Reylo, Dark!Rey, Dark-to-Light fic, Electrocution, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Female Gaze, Food Restriction, Forced Orgasm, Horror, Locked In, Mind Control, Mind/Mood Altering Substances, Minor Character Death, Minor Phasma/Rose, Nightbloomer, Oral Sex, Oviposition, Paralysis, Penis In Vagina Sex, Rape Fantasy, Rey is Not a Virgin, Reylo - Freeform, Rough Oral Sex, Science Fiction, Seizures, Sex Pollen, Suspense, TA Ben Solo, University Student Rey (Star Wars), Weird Biology, as many Adam Driver references as I can manage, bad childhood memories, monster fucking, strange food fetish crossover, the non-con is related to the sex pollen and the brain worms, though not in the usual sense if that's fair
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:40:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 25
Words: 34,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23537776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSideOfMe/pseuds/DarkSideOfMe
Summary: Going on a biology expedition in the mountains sounds like a great way for Rey to spend her summer - especially when she'll be working next to the tall, dark and handsome TA that she's been crushing on all year - but Rey quickly finds herself in the middle of a sex-filled nightmare... but not alone.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Kylo Ren | Ben Solo
Comments: 295
Kudos: 273
Collections: Reylo Hidden Gems, Sex Pollen to the Rescue





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, I'm warning your now, this is going to be weird.  
> It will probably be the weirdest, darkest thing I ever write.  
> I don’t expect this to be for everyone. Please mind the tags.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part I: Induction

_bang- bang- bang-_

_“Rey… REY…”_ came the muffled whisper. 

“ _REEYY…_ ”

Her tiny dorm room was still dark when she finally blinked her eyes open. Only the faintest light was peeking in through the window.

_bang- bang- bang-_

“Okay, I’m up. I’m coming,” Rey groaned as she forced herself to roll out of bed to open the door.

In the hall Rose wore a huge smile; she balanced two coffees in one hand while the top of a sporty looking hiking pack peaked over top of her head. “We’re finally doing this!”

Rey was not a morning person. She grunted in response - hopefully it sounded agreeable - and tried not to inhale her coffee when she got it. It burned pleasantly while she ushered her friend inside. 

A few minutes later they stepped out into the cool morning air. Golden beams of light cut across the tree lined streets as they started walking across campus. 

Rey was now dressed in her favourite Space Wars t-shirt and shorts. Her hiking pack was old and shabby, but it held what she would need for a summer of doing field research. In her one hand she held her precious coffee, and in the other she carried a small duffle bag she had carefully packed with the equipment for her summer project. “I still don’t understand why we had to leave _so_ early. We’re going to be there for the whole summer. If Professor Snoke had wanted us there for a full day today, why not have us drive up the night before?” 

“I think the TAs were still marking exams yesterday,” said Rose. “Or Snoke just wants us to suffer.” She looked at Rey with a sly grin. “Probably both.” 

Rey snickered quietly as they approached the bioscience building. “Probably both.” Snoke was notorious for making his students suffer. “At least we don’t have to drive up with him.” 

“No.” It was the lyrical tone of Rose’s voice that told Rey she had just walked into a trap. “We don’t have to drive with _him_ …” A trap from which there was no escape. “But we do have to put up with… _Ben Soooloooooo_.”

“ _Rose._ Be _quiet_.” Rey wanted to sound stern, but the effect was ruined by her cheeks burning as she looked for possible eavesdroppers. Luckily there were none at _four-fifty-six_ in the morning.

“Admit it, you’re super happy that you were assigned to the same group as him.”

“I-” Ben Solo. He had been their tall, dark, brooding biology TA all year. Rey had spent a terrible amount of time staring at his shoulders, his back - _his ass_ \- whenever he was writing on the chalkboard. Sometimes - when she was writing notes or tests - she thought she’d caught him looking at her, but that had to be coincidence - he was supposed to look at the students in his class. “He’s our TA.” Rey finished simply.

“You know,” Rose drawled, “he’s technically not our TA any more.”

“No…” Rey’s brain paused for a fraction of a moment to consider this. “But he’s older, and doing his thesis work. He probably has a girlfriend or fiancee or something.” Because why wouldn’t you if you were built like god’s gift to women? And he was obviously smart; a good teacher. And for all these reasons, there should be no reason for him to have taken interest in Rey. She was just a student (they probably gave the TAs courses on how to deal with students that become overly attached). “So yes, while I may think he’s attractive,” in that _let-me-climb-you_ kind of way, “can we just both pretend like I’m not? It would be super embarrassing if he found out.”

She was really hoping to drag a ‘yes’ or a nod out of Rose with her _please-don’t-sell-me-out_ eyes, but it was just then that they rounded the corner that led around the back of the biology building, and Rose’s eyes snapped down the alley. “Oh hey, there they are.” 

And then - _somehow_ \- the shorter woman sped up and got ahead.

“Rose… _Rose_ …” Rey whispered as she hustled after her.

But Rose didn’t stop of course. She power-walked all the way to the minivan parked by the loading docks, and waved to the towering platinum blond woman who was loading boxes. “Hi Phasma!”

 _Damn it_. Rey knew she should have talked to Rose about this sooner, but exams had been hectic and she had lost track of her opportunities.

The giant of a woman smiled when she saw them. “Hi Rose, hi Rey.” Phasma had been their other TA for the year, and had certainly been the more talkative than-

Rey almost jumped as she came around the back of the van and found Ben Solo staring at her, hunched over, his hands placed as if he was just about to rearrange some of the boxes in the van but had paused at her approach. “ _Oh_. Um, hi Ben.”

He once - then twice - before turning back to his packing. “Mm. Hi Rey.” He now seemed hyper focused on his task. 

“Hi Ben,” Rose chimed in as she too reached the back of the van.

He picked up a lighter box and moved it atop some other. “Here you can put your stuff there. If you want,” he said to Rey. “Uh Rose, your stuff might have to ride up front.”

Rey was vaguely aware of Rose looking between the two of them before turning to go, and it was enough to spring Rey to action. “Um, thanks.” She set her duffle on the ground, while she started unbuckling her hiking pack one handed.

“Here I can-” He moved to take her coffee, but paused sort of actually touching her.

“Oh thanks, I-” could not think of what to say nex, but she did smile as she passed the cup to him. 

In an awkward dance she moved around him to get her pack in place, and then spent a full forty seconds finding the safest spot of her duffle bag to go.

“I heard that your project involves a drone that can identify tree species.” Why was his voice like liquid chocolate? Or was it more like leather? In any case she forced herself to ignore it as she turned back to him.

“Well the drone is just designed to identify the trees in a given grid and then collect enough images of each tree so it can be identified. Then I have more software on my laptop to make a map of where the trees are. The final step would be to partner with a company that does AI plant identification, but that won’t be possible while we’re all in the middle of nowhere with no internet.”

Ben’s head nodded in a short fast rhythm, his eyes seemingly locked on hers. “Yeah. Definitely no internet where we’re going. Basically just the sat-phone.”

Suddenly she felt flushed under the intensity of his gaze and she tore her eyes away to look at her coffee. His hands dwarfed the cup. “I, uh. Can I-?” She nodded at it.

“Oh um, yeah. Of course.” He handed it back just as Rose and Phasma joined them, and on spotting them he took a step back. 

The talk woman cocked her head. “All _packed_ away?”

Ben’s jaw worked as he nodded. “All set.” He seemed to be studying the ground at the moment.

“Great. You still want to drive?” Ben looked up but he didn’t even have the change to reply before Phasma declared, “Great. I call back seat.”

“Back seat!” Echoed Rose and suddenly they were gone again, leaving Ben and Rey to stare at each other. 

“I… guess that means I’ll sit in the front,” offered Rey.

Ben - who was doing that thing with his jaw again - swallowed. “Great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for giving this a shot.  
> Comments and questions are always welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW, all spelling mistakes etc are on me. I'm doing this super fast and barely proof reading, so please excuse obvious errors.
> 
> I did take some biology in undergrad but I'm not a biologist so don't expect super high accuracy. I also don't know a lot of programs where they would two TAs on to teach one section -- maybe I should have written it differently but I wanted the main four here to have some history together.

Rey grinned as she walked to the passenger door. 

She caught Rose’s eye as Phasma was getting into the van, and the shorter woman had the audacity to _wink_ at her. 

She was going to kill Rose, but that thought still didn’t lessen how much her cheeks ached.

He had talked to her. 

Yes he had been her TA all year and yes he had technically spoken to her before, but only to answer questions when Phasma wasn’t in class. While most TA pairs divided the work load relatively equally, Ben tended to _lecture_ the class, while Phasma _interacted_ with the class. He would take questions if students dared to ask him, but Rey rarely had questions. He might randomly quizz the class, but somehow he rarely seemed to call on Rey. They had never exchanged hellos or goodbyes; Ben Solo didn’t do that. 

But now they’d had a _conversation_ , kind of, albeit related to her project and she basically rambled through most of it, but she couldn’t help it. His eyes had held her so intensely it was like her brain switched off and the words just tumbled out. 

And at the very least when she’d declared that she’d sit next to him he’d said, ‘Great.’ Ben Solo didn’t say ‘great’ to anyone — he never even wrote ‘great’ on tests.

So for all that she’d told herself that there was _no way_ that she ever had a chance at Ben Solo, her brain seemed to have forgotten this in the wake of their conversation — so much so that she had to physically rub the smile off her face the moment before she got into the passenger’s seat.

As everyone buckled their seat belts, she wondered if this marked a new ear in how she saw Ben Solo, what other things he might want to talk about.

She tried not to let her eyes drift to his massive frame tucked into the driver’s seat, but of course they did on occasion. He took more than a moment to re-adjust all the mirrors before executing a three-point turn to get them turned around. He fully stopped at all stop signs and meticulously signaled and checked all turns and lane changes as they navigated out of the city. His hands — his massive hands — gripped the wheel firmly, always at ten and two, and the speedometer rarely deviated from his intended speed.

And throughout all of this — as the city turned into the countryside — Ben Solo spoke not a word.

Not a single one.

Thankfully Rose could seemingly pull neutral but interesting conversations as if from air. “Hey, so the area we’re going to, that’s where they had that meteor shower recently, right?” 

And Phasma knew all the best gossip about both the faculty and the other TAs. “So last year we finished marking the exams one day early, so we all went back to Mitaka’s and got stoned out of our minds.” Rose giggled from the back seat. “But then his _parents_ showed up and kicked us all out.” Now Rose cackled while Rey simply chuckled as she stared out the side window. “We took the bus back to campus but by the time we got back Hux had passed out so I _bridal carried_ him the whole way back to the dorms.” By this point Phasma and Rose were both laughing so hard that the taller woman could barely get the words out. “And then — part way — he kind of woke up and kept telling me how ‘ _lovely_ ’ I was with that accent of his.”

Rey chuckled again as the other two burst out laughing. She turned, meaning to look back at Rose, but on the way she found Solo staring at her. He abruptly shot his eyes forward and redoubled his grip on the wheel, all before Rey could blink. Her heart thrumming in her throat she turned back to her window.

The laughter in the back finally died down and a comfortable calm fell over the group — comfortable even with Ben Solo’s strange return to silence. It was casually broken a moment later when Phasma asked, “What about you Rey? Where’s your accent from?”

The question jarred Rey out of the peaceful lull. 

It was the sort of question she got a lot; on the surface it seemed perfectly innocuous. Sometimes she lied about it — like when the nosy cashier at the discount grocery store asked her where in the UK she was from — but Rose already knew the truth, and Rey didn’t like lying to people that she was going to have ongoing contact with. 

“Umm…” she started as she recalled her usual line. “Well, my first foster parents were British expats.” From what Rey remembered they had been very nice; but then one day Rey had to be changed to a different family. She never really found out why — it was probably their health they were so old — but it brought a sense of uncertainty to Rey’s world that never quite left. “The accent just stuck.”

And then there was an awkward pause, a pause bursting with questions — questions that, even unspoken, made Rey cringe. 

Rey caught a glimpse of movement from the driver’s side, and when she looked she caught Solo’s eyes turning back to the road again.

Another moment ticked by..—

“Shoot,” piped in Rose. “I just lost my reception.” Rey breathed out a sigh of relief. It seemed like Rose was forever rescuing Rey from awkward conversations. “What about your Rey?”

Rey squirmed in her seat so she could dig the ancient thing out of her pocket. “Ah, nope. Also no reception.”

“Welcome to being forcibly unplugged,” declared the blonde as she too checked her phone.

* * *

They stopped for gas and breakfast on the highway. Despite that Solo had volunteered to gas up while the rest of them ordered — and therefore he was still eating his second of six breakfast burritos as they walked back to the car — Phasma still insisted that Ben drive as they left. “You know the route better.”

So that was how Rey ended up holding breakfast burritos — numbers three to six — in her lap while Ben buckled his seat belt.

Despite being recharged on coffee, the infusion of food seemed to lull both Phasma and Rose into a food coma, and it was as Rey was passing Ben breakfast burrito number four that Rose started lightly snoring. When Rey peaked back Phasma too had fallen asleep.

The thought of effectively being _alone_ with Ben Solo again sparked that hope in her chest that they might continue their earlier conversation, but that hope was slowly tempered as mile after mile passed beneath the vehicle. 

By the time all the breakfast burritos were gone Rey had once again accepted that Ben Solo _just - wasn’t - going - to - happen_ — and that was fine. Perhaps by the end of the summer they could work up to exchanging pleasantries, but normal conversations were probably too much to expect from the mountainous TA. What had happened at the back of the van was likely a fluke, and Rey would just placate any Ben Solo related urges with stolen glances and her hand at night. 

There would be plenty of time for that over the course of the summer, so for now Rey just returned her gaze out the window, watching farmland pass by as the mountains grew larger ahead of them.

At some point they left the highway, and later they turned onto a single lane dirt road. Here the forest grew right up to the road, providing Rey with a view of endless green. 

Rey could still remember the first time she saw a real forest. In grade school they’d gone on a field trip to a farm. All of the other kids were focused on the animals — marveling at the large ones, petting some of the smaller ones — while Rey stared at what lay in the next lot over. A large stand of apple trees, left to grow wild. The parks in the city were nothing like this. There was so much green you couldn’t see through it; she was mesmerized by the dance of the leaves. In one day she had fallen in love with nature, with the plants and the trees. That summer Rey had tried to nurture a baby maple sapling that was growing at the back of her foster parent’s house, but her foster father cut it down with the lawnmower and Rey cried herself to sleep for a week.

The branches were getting closer overhead, dimming the light, and Rey’s eyes were just starting to sag when, unexpectedly, Ben cleared his throat. “We’re here,” he announced quietly.

Rey’s eyes snapped forward just as an old fieldstone cottage came into view, a fenced off garden attached to it. 

Ben cut the ignition and the engine hissed lightly, protesting their long journey. 

Rey stretched her sleep limbs. “Nice driving,” she said with a smile; she could at least _try_ to break the ice. 

And for a moment as Ben Solo regarded her, she almost thought he might reply — until a comically loud yawn came from the back seat. “ _Are we there yet?_ ” asked Rose.

Rey turned back to her friend — “Just arrived,” — and Solo seemed to take this as his cue to exit the vehicle. 

Rey sighed inwardly. Oh well.

The three of them got out and stretched as they took in the idyllic little cottage, golden light streaming down through branches. Solo was already unpacking the back of the van. He already had Rey’s items carefully set on the ground, apart from the rest, before she realized it. 

“Our cabins are just through there,” Phasma said as she pointed off through the trees. 

The birds were chirping and Rey could hear a stream running somewhere nearby. The air was so fresh and filled with life. It was _beautiful_ here, she thought as she spun in a slow circle. 

Her rotation halted at the sight of Snoke approaching them from the cottage.

“Hmm, good. You’re on time,” he said as they gathered around him. 

_Odd_ , thought Rey. He looked even pastier than usual despite the sun’s light, his blue eyes paler perhaps. 

The old professor turned and reached out to lay a hand on Ben’s shoulder; Rey wasn’t sure, but it almost seemed as if he — Ben — had resisted flinching at the contact. “Ben, my boy. I was hoping you would come with me for a bit. We have much to discuss.”

A look of confusion crossed the younger man’s face. “Oh. But I need to get out to my data collection points. It’s going to take all day just to get to the ones on the north trail.”

The older man seemed to consider this. “When will you be back?”

“The day after tomorrow. And then I’ll have some fresh data for you.”

Snoke withdrew his hand. “Fine,” he said and he turned — and Rey found him looking at her. “Rey,” he called on her as if they had spoken many times before when really Rey had just had a short interview about her summer project. “Perhaps we could discuss _your_ project now.”

He even had started to turn back to the cottage when Rey blurted, “Oh, but I’ll need to assemble my drone to really show you anything.”

He turned back with a look of annoyance. “I’m sure that that cou—”

“I can come,” offered Rose.

For a moment Rey thought that Rose had overstepped. That the tiny, funny, amazing woman was about to be burned away under the glare that their professor was so famous for when students talked out of turn, but instead Snoke seemed pleased at the offer. “Ah, good. At least one of you is prepared. Come then. You can rejoin the others later.” And with that he started marching back to the cabin. 

Rey whispered Rose a, “Thank you,” as her friend grabbed her back pack from the van and bounded down the path after the spindly biologist.

“Well so much for ‘hi’, ‘hello’, ‘how are you’,” Rey muttered, and she breathed a sigh of relief when Phasma just laughed. 

“Come on, I’ll show you where your cabin is,” said the tall woman.

Rey gathered her things and followed along the little path towards the woods, but not before glancing back at Ben who was still hauling gear out of the van. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Settling in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Peanuts. My apologies to those of you with peanut allergies. It's nothing personal, it's just what we always feed to the chipmunks.

Carrying her gear, Rey trudged after Phasma along a narrow path that led deeper into the forest. The air was cooler under the canopy and they quickly came to several small buildings centered around a fire pit. There were three small cabins, a shed-like structure for showers, and, past that, an outhouse.

“That one’s for you and Rose,” said Phasma as she nodded at the largest of the three cabins. “I’ll be in here and that one will be Ben.”

Rey smiled at the small glade. She knew this wasn’t _real_ camping, but it was close enough. They were in the middle of a _forest_ and they were going to _live_ here the whole summer. 

“If there are any problems you can come bug me any time. Of course,” — the tall woman glanced back at Rey as she approached her own cabin — “once Ben’s back the same applies to him.” And without another word she disappeared inside leaving Rey to gape.

 _Oh… Sssshit._

Was it that obvious? Had Phasma noticed during the school year? Or just today? Or had Rose sold her out? 

_Oh no_. Did _Ben_ know? Rey did _not_ need this right now. It was going to be so embarrassing if he found out. But… _Shit._ But what could she do? Beg Phasma not to say anything? She had the hunch that that would only inflame the situation.

No, she was just going to have to play it cool. She couldn’t give anyone any extra reason to bring it up. She would just have to act normal around him.

For the whole summer. 

Great.

Rey sighed and pushed open her cabin door.

* * *

The cabin was literally just a single room with a door and windows. There were a few hooks on one wall, and someone had left a dated metal end table in one corner. 

Rey had opened the windows and left the door wide, trying to get rid of the musty smell that filled the space. She had unrolled her bedroll on one side of the room and hung up her rain jacket. And now Rey sat in the middle of the floor, her drone reassembled, trying to program it for a new flight pattern. If Snoke was going to ask for a demonstration she wanted to be prepared. 

Frustratingly it was taking longer than usual to get the little white and orange drone to accept the instructions. Rey swore the thing had a mind of its own sometimes. The morning had passed quickly — she’d overheard Solo telling Phasma that he was heading out shortly after they arrived. She and Phasma had shared sandwiches for lunch and thankfully the conversation didn’t drift back to Mr. Redwood. 

The sun was starting to drift down in the sky, and Rey was really starting to wonder if Rose was _still_ with Snoke. There was _no way_ that she could have gotten lost, but how could reviewing an undergrad summer project take this long?

Rey was typing away again when she heard a tiny scratch by the door. She glanced up and a chipmunk stared at her, stock-still, at the cabin’s threshold. Rey held her breath. She had heard from the other students that the chipmunks at Snoke’s research site were tame.

Slowly she shifted her hand to retrieve a few de-shelled peanuts out of her bag of trail mix. 

The chipmunk was still eyeing her, and it skittered away when she tossed one of the peanuts at the door. _Shoot_. Too much movement. She was just wondering if it would come back when a tiny head popped up from the step below. Rey watched, fascinated. It had spotted the peanut. The chipmunk moved forward in quick jerky bursts, holding perfectly still between. It kept its body low as it crawled up past the threshold, nose twitching as it went. 

It would occasionally shoot it’s head up to survey the cabin, and then sink back down and take a few more steps towards the peanut’s location. 

Rey kept her breathing shallow; she moved not a muscle as it crept closer. _Closer_. It bounded the last few steps and then it was sitting on its hind legs, its tiny arms turning the peanut this way and that. And then it did something Rey had only seen on videos; it crammed the peanut into one of its cheeks and then looked to Rey expectantly.

Rey beamed. Carefully she tossed another nut. It darted away, but no further than the doorway. It was more confident this time as it homed in on its target. Again the nut was deposited in an awaiting cheek pouch. 

Rey’s cheeks hurt with how hard she was smiling. She tossed a third and a fourth peanut, and both times the creature darted over to the new offering. 

Oo. Maybe she could get a picture. She carefully slid her phone out of her pocket as the chipmunk stalked towards peanut number five. Her phone in position, she tossed the peanut a little closer to her this time but the chipmunk paused at that. Apparently it had some trust issues. _It’s okay buddy. You’re not the only one._

Hesitantly, it took a step forward and Rey could feel her smile widen. It just needed to come a little closer… 

— but then it sat straight up, nose twitching furiously, head darting back and forth. And before Rey could wonder what the matter was the critter bolted for the door and skittered away.

 _Shoot_. And it was going so well. Rey leaned a bit towards the door to listen for the scratch of it’s tiny, tiny claws again when a figure suddenly stepped into the doorway.

 _Oh!_ Rey jerked back where she sat, her heart jumping in her chest. “Shit, damn it Rose!”

The other woman gave a tired, “Oh, sorry,” as she stepped up into the cabin.

Rey let out a long breath, trying to calm her heart rate. “Where have you been all day? Did you eat?” 

“Umm…” the other woman said sleepily as she set her pack down on the other side of the room. “Well we talked about my project, but then Snoke got showing me things in his garden. He has some really neat plants and he had some planting to do so I just kind of… lost track of time.” It was now that Rey noticed the dirt staining Rose’s fingers.

“ _Hrmm_. Sounds more like slave labour to me. Well anyway, I was going to get supper started. Do you want to unpack first?”

“Oh umm, yeah… that’d be good,” Rose said distantly. 

Rey cocked her head, wondering if Rose had gotten some sunstroke. “Um, here.” She passed over one of her precious bottles of sugary electrolytes. “Why don’t you drink this and I’ll come get you when supper is ready.”

Rose nodded and Rey headed out of the cabin. 

When she came back thirty minutes later the bottle was indeed empty, but Rose was fast asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently this part of the story is being written in teeny-tiny installments.

“ _Hrm._ _Sorry I fell asleep last night_ ,” Rose said as she inhaled her second bowl of muesli. 

“Hey, no problem. I’m glad you’re feeling better,” replied Rey. They sat on old logs around the cold fire pit. “But it’s totally your turn to do the dishes.”

Rose smiled. “Harsh. I guess I deserve that.”

“Hm,” said Phasma. “I think Ben was going to make a duty schedule.” She looked to the empty cabin. “Not very helpful if he doesn’t give it to us.”

 _Wouldn’t you like it if he… gave_ it _to_ you _?_ Rey’s traitorous mind thought, and she coughed as a mouthful of cereal went down the wrong pipe. 

“You okay, Rey?” asked Rose, patting Rey on the back.

“ _Yeah — I’m okay_ ,” Rey insisted with a strained voice between coughs.

“Well, good morning,” a fourth voice chimed in.

Rose’s head whipped around to the speaker, her hand dropping from Rey’s back. “Good morning, Professor.”

The thin man regarded the three of them, hands clasped in front of him. “I trust you are all settling in.” 

Rey nodded, trying not to cough. She realized he must be here to collect her. She started running down the list of things she would need to bring with her — drone, laptop, a paper copy of her project — when he surprised her:

“Gwen. When you’re done, come along to the cottage. I have some questions about your project.”

The tall woman paused, her spoon halfway to her mouth, clearly confused. “I… Can I—”

“Don’t take too long,” he interrupted coolly, and with that he turned and walked back towards his cottage. 

Rey watched as anger momentarily flashed across Phasma’s face. The blonde shoveled down the rest of her cereal and stomped to her cabin. 

“Well,” said Rey when they were both out of range. “I guess he even treats the grad students like trash.” 

She looked to Rose — expecting a chuckle or commiseration — but her friend was looking at her with an almost hurt look. “He… he’s actually really nice. He showed me all kinds of things yesterday.”

Rey blinked. “Rose, what kind of kool aid did he give you?”

The other woman just blinked back. “What?”

Rey sighed and gave up as Phasma stormed past them — now carrying her laptop — to follow Snoke. 

* * *

The day was beautiful; the forest was beautiful. And this is what Rey tried to focus on while she waited for Snoke. 

After they cleaned up breakfast, she and Rose brought their laptops outside so they could enjoy the warm breeze as they worked. 

Rey reviewed… well… a lot. She reviewed where she planned to do her test flights. She reviewed the methodology for doing the manual counts. She reviewed how the numbers were supposed to be compared. She reviewed her drone’s flight patterns and test functions. 

She reviewed these things because she had already prepared them prior to their departure. Rey was one hundred percent ready to go count trees in the woods, she just needed permission to go do it. Permission that seemed to be on hold that’s to Professor stick-up-his-butt.

She glanced at Rose who seemed lost in whatever she was doing on her laptop. She’s not sure that she’d ever seen Rose so quiet for such a long period of time.

They broke for lunch. Rose heated stew on the camp stove and, after, Rey did the dishes. Unfortunately the day was warming up and the hot stew had left her hot and sticky. She was worried that Snoke would arrive at any time and demand that she show her his project, but with still no sign of Phasma, Rey took a chance and nipped in the shower. The water was cold — while there was electricity and running water it was not seen as a necessity to give the students a _hot_ shower — but it felt wonderful to get the grime off and Rey was relieved when Rose reported no sign of Phasma or Snoke. 

By this time Rey was completely out of things to do, so she reprogrammed the drone — again — did a mini test flight in the woods adjacent to camp. The AI identified fourteen trees in the small sector; there were actually nineteen trees by her count, but two were quite young, and two were growing close together. Still she thought the photos of each tree were adequate to make an identification. She planned to compare several iterations of her AI, and from there try to improve on the best one. If she was lucky she would have the accuracy vastly improved by the end of the summer.

Now if she could only start _doing_ her project. Rey sighed. 

Waiting. Rey hated waiting — she had done too much in her lifetime — yet it would seem that today she would also wait and not be rewarded. Snoke never came back that afternoon, and neither did Phasma.

Rose was strangely quiet over supper; she continued to work on her laptop as they ate at the nearby picnic table. Much to Rey’s surprise Rose suggested they turn in early, and soon after the lights were out, Rey was left staring at the dark ceiling and listening to Rose’s gentle snoring. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's probably good, though, that this chapter was short because it's rather boring. I tried to find how to spice it up, but it seemed necessary to keep it slow for pacing reasons.
> 
> Either way, if you have any comments I'd always love to hear them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER NOW COMPLETE.  
> I had posted the first half of this chapter last night, and while I could post the second half as chapter 6, I just feel that the flow of the text is better with them as a single chapter. So for anyone that read Part I last night you will find **Part II after the third line break**.
> 
> CW: feeling emotionally upset

It was a sunbeam slanting through the window and landing across Rey’s eyes that awoke her. 

Rey stretched still in her sleeping bag. Her back was sore again from the thin mattress. She wondered if she could find a cheap one in town when they went for groceries a couple of weeks from now — until then she’d have to put up with what she had.

Regardless, she felt unusually well rested.

She willed her eyes to slide open and blinked at the still room. The birds were chirping happily outside. Rose’s sleeping bag was empty. She must be outside for breakfast. Rey rolled on her side and checked her phone.

_10:23?_

Rey bolted up to a sit. Why didn’t anyone get her up? She was expecting Snoke to call on her today, and she didn’t want to piss him off just because she slept in.

Rey dressed quickly, pulling her hair back in a ponytail and put on her SPF lip gloss. She felt like an idiot for not setting an alarm. Slipping on her hiking sandals, she yanked open the door… to find the area around the campfire empty. Rey took a tentative step down to the ground. Again, the only sounds were the birds and the wind. 

Rey crossed the dozen steps towards the shower shack and listened; no running water. She moved past, towards the outhouse. “Rose?”

As if in reply, a crow cawed somewhere deep in the woods.

Rey turned in a careful circle, seeing not a soul.

She walked back towards the cabins and knocked on Phasma’s door. “Phasma?” _Knock-knock._ “Are you in there?” The birds continued to chirp in the trees.

Rey went back to her own cabin, her eyes searching. Roses shoes were gone, but her bag and laptop were still there. _Ah_. A torn piece of paper lay on top of Rose’s sleeping bag.

_Rey, In case you need us, Phasma and I are going to Snoke’s cottage._

Rey blinked at Rose’s printing.

_What. The. FUCK? What the honest —_

Rey set the paper back on Rose’s sleeping bag and with clipped steps walked out the door and around to the back of the cabin. She leaned her back against the cabin wall and stared into the woods. She could feel herself breathing too quickly. 

_This is fine_ , she told herself.

So, she had expected to spend a fun summer with Rose, who now wanted to spend all of her time with their evil professor. So she was all set to start her project except that she seems to be waiting for some kind of final approval from said evil professor; approval which he was basically dangling in front of her. So _what_? So she’s been left _completely on her own_ in the middle of nowhere. _So what?_ It’s fine. She’s an adult. She can look after herself. _It’s fine. It’s all just_ — 

A chipmunk hopped onto a log a dozen steps in front of her, sniffing at the air between them.

Slowly, Rey knelt to the ground, the leaves from last fall crunching under her. They stared at each other for she-knew-not how long. Slowly the chipmunk crept down the front of the log and started inching towards her. 

Perhaps at the halfway mark she slid her hand into her pocket, finding a small pack of trail mix there. With no sudden movements she opened the bag and began tossing peanuts to the tiny creature. As before it skittered away at the first offering, but soon it’s cheeks were bulging. When it could shove no more into its mouth it reluctantly ran off into the woods.

Rey let out a deep breath. Perhaps the chipmunk was right; she should just get to work and not worry about the rest.

* * *

She left Rose a note, packed her gear and a sandwich, and set out on along the North Trail. 

Not that she had far to go; from past students she knew there was a cluster of old oaks close by. She wanted her test sites to have different tree compositions, to see how the software handled different types of forest. When she arrived at the right trail marker she started walking off the path and soon she was stepping on acorns as she moved through the light underbrush. 

Keeping the trail in sight she set down her gear and started marking her grid would be. It would have been impossible to accurately mark it off if not for GPS. Grid selected, she then started the painstaking process of counting and recounting — manually — all the trees in the grid. Oaks, birch, maple, pines. There was one tree she thought might be an ash so she took pictures of it. When her second count nearly matched the first, she started to ready her drone. 

Sitting on the forest floor with nature all around, Rey felt silly about getting upset earlier. Being here was a very new situation. There were bound to be bumps in the road, but it would work out. 

And if not, at least Rey could feed the chipmunks.

* * *

Rey was beaming. The drone flew. The drone didn’t crash. The drone identified trees and took pictures of said trees. It worked. Her software worked. And if she could get this much done in a single morning think of all the data sets she could generate.

Rey was carefully setting her drone into its padded case when a branch snapped behind her. Rey whirled to find a figure looming behind her.

“ _Ah!_ ” she startled, and Ben flinched. “ _Oh my god_.”

“Sorry, I— sorry about that.”

She could feel her heart pounding in her throat. “No, I’m sorry I just didn’t hear you.”

“No, I, I should have called out. After not speaking to anyone for two days you start to forget that that would be the normal thing to do.”

She regarded him still standing a ways away. That he was carrying his hiking gear only made him seem larger than he already was. “Are you just coming back to camp?”

“Yeah, umm, I saw you from the trail.” He peered around her. “Is that your drone?”

She nodded and moved it around for him to see better. She told herself that she wasn’t to stare at his arms — upper or lower — as he crouched to take a closer look. 

“That’s really cool. ”

A spark of pride bloomed inside her. “Thanks. I, uh, was just packing up to go back to camp.”

“Oh, have you had lunch yet? I’m starving.”

Well actually, yes, Rey had enjoyed her sandwich while her drone patrolled the grid, but… “Umm, I could eat. Here let me get this packed up.” And for all that Rey knew that _nothing was going to happen_ , she couldn’t help but smile she gathered her things.

* * *

Rey plodded along the trail, taking in the trees and moss and rocks as she listened to Ben who walked behind her.

“So we both see this bear — a cub — on the trail ahead of us, and we slowly turn around and start walking the other way. We start talking, loud enough so it can hear us so that it will know that we are there, and as we get to the top of this little rise, we turn around just in time to see mama bear lumber out of the bush to join the cub, and I will tell you… I have never seen Hux move so fast in my entire life.” 

A bright infectious laughter bubbled up in Rey at the thought of Hux running, and a moment later Ben laughed too. 

“And my only option was to run after him, of course.”

“So is this why you two don’t get along? Because he left you to be eaten by bears?” 

“One of many reasons.” He sounded like he was smiling and Rey felt so tempted to turn and check.

Rey’s not sure how it happened, but despite the day starting off with disappointment and frustration, she felt… happy. As they’d started their hike back to camp they’d made small talk about Ben’s data collection stations, and then they’d talked more about Rey’s drone, and then somehow their conversation had become relaxed. “Were you there there the night Phasma had to carry him home?”

Ben huffed a laugh. “Unfortunately,” he said (and Rey tried to decipher what aspect of the night he’d found unfortunate). “I was lucky Phasma was there, or I would have had to carry him.” The breeze was quite warm and Rey was glad for the shade of the trees. “Is everything going okay at camp? She’s not making you guys do all the chores is she?”

“Umm…” No, the chores weren't the issue. “So…” Hell, where to even start?

“What is it?” Ben’s voice suddenly sounded concerned.

“So do you remember when Snoke asked Rose to go talk about her project on the first day? Well she ended up staying there the whole day, working in his garden or something.”

“Oh…”

“And then yesterday he asked Phasma to go talk to him about her project, and _she_ didn’t get back until after dark.” Or at least Rey assumed that’s who she heard coming back to camp as she stared at the ceiling while trying to fall asleep. Rey paused, and when Ben said nothing she continued. “But then this morning I woke up and they were both gone, and Rose had left me a note saying they had gone to Snoke’s.” 

Rey heard his footfalls stop, and she turned to find him with a concerned look. “Phasma just left you at camp without talking to you?”

“Well—” Shoot. Rey really didn’t want anyone getting in trouble because she complained; she really didn’t want to make enemies of the barbarian woman. “I think they just wanted to let me sleep in. And it’s not like they aren’t just down the path.”

However this did little to lessen the concern on his face. “And then you went off in the woods without telling them where you were going.”

Double shoot. “I wrote them a note,” she tried to sound cheery. 

Ben raised an eyebrow. 

“And took a sat phone with me. The trail was very easy to follow. And believe me I was going nuts just sitting at camp all day.” 

Ben sighed. “Well, I suppose you didn’t die,” he said and the corner of his mouth turned up. 

Rey laughed. “Do you lose marks if the undergrads die?” She turned and started walking again.

“Yes. Big time.”

Another small laugh. “Then I’ll try not to die.” 

“Great.”

* * *

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, no, it’s fine,” she insisted.

“‘Cause I’d feel bad if you felt that you had to… you know, cause I’m your—”

“Ben.” She punctuated the word by loudly setting a large cutting board on the picnic table. “You haven’t showered in two days and you smell. I like making food. Go take a shower, Ben. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

For a moment she thought he might protest but then he sighed and headed to the shower shack, clutching his towel and shampoo. 

Rey tried not to think of what he would look like stripped of his shirt and shorts (and underwear if we’re being honest) as she buttered a half dozen slices of bread, and stirred the canned soup that was heating up. Nothing is going to happen, she told herself again, though that didn’t stop her from being disappointed when he emerged in a fresh set of clothes rather than just a towel. _Nothing’s going to happen, Rey; you need to let go._

* * *

Ben stared at her incredulously from across the fire pit. “You dip your grilled cheese _in_ your soup?”

Rey paused, her teeth poised to take another bite of sodden sandwich. “It’s good.” And as if to prove it she took another bite. “Mmmm. Oh yeah,” she moaned dramatically, following it up by licking her lip.

Ben just laughed and turned back to his soup, and Rey felt a little pang in the center of her chest. Why did this feel so… comfortable? She sighed on the inside. If she had _liked_ Bed when he was being a broody TA, then she _liked_ Ben even more like this. He was funny, and he had little dimples when he smiled; they had been a surprise, the dimples, because she can’t remember a single time that he smiled during the school year, and yet she’d seen them more than once now. 

_Not going to happen Johnson_. 

“Thank you so much for lunch. I’ll clean up and then I have to get packing.”

“Packing?”

“Oh yeah. I need to hit up my stations on the South Trails next.”

 _Oh._ “Oh, okay, cool.” He was leaving. _It’s fine. This is fine._ She tossed her dish into the small basin of water she had already set out and reached for the frying pan.

“Rey? Are— are you okay?”

She paused and was glad that she was facing away from him now. “Yeah, I’m… I’m sorry. It’s fine. I just didn’t realize that you were heading out again so soon.” _Oh fuck, did I just say that_. “I mean, there’s no problem ’cause Phasma’s just right down the road. I’m sure they’ll be back soon.” _Fuck, fuck, fuck, maybe he won’t notice, fuck_. 

She could sense him take a step closer to her as she scrubbed the pan far longer than it needed. “You know, I’m going to go talk to her. She was supposed to work from camp while I was away, and I have no idea what Snoke needs them _both_ for.” Determination had settled into his voice and it showed in how quickly his strides started to carry him down the path towards Snoke’s. 

It took her a moment to register what he was doing. “No. Wait. Ben,” she called as she followed a few steps.

He halted, a dozen strides ahead, and looked back to her.

“Don’t. Please don’t. I—” She swallowed. “I just don’t want to come off as being whiney about this. Especially to Snoke. If you want to talk to Phasma about it later that’s fine but please not in front of Snoke.”

He turned back, mouth certainly not smiling now. The look of concern was back. 

“Please?”

He sighed. “Okay. Fine, but I am talking to her when I get back.”

Her shoulders slumped with a sigh. “Thanks Ben,” she smiled.

“Don’t mention it.”

* * *

Ben had seemed to dawdle with the preparations for his second hike, but at some point he could no longer justify staying in case Phasma might return.

When he left she hiked with him, along the South Trail, to where she wanted to do her second grid. Before heading off on his own he made her promise that she would be back at camp long before it got dark out.

Preparing the second grid went even smoother than the first, and like in the first her drone had a smooth flight. 

The sun was below the treeline by the time she headed back, but there was still plenty of light in the sky. The air had started to cool and a chill ran up her spine as she arrived back in camp.

As she neared her cabin her mind was still whirling with thoughts of propeller blades and dimples, so she startled slightly when a voice — no, two voices — broke out in laughter coming from the next cabin.

She realized that the lights were on at Phasma’s, and again laughter — both Phasma’s and Rose’s — chimed from inside as Rey stood alone outside.

Huh…

Rey tore her eyes from the building, quietly brought her gear back into her cabin, and grabbed a hoodie from her bag. A series of giggles floated across to her as she crossed to the other cabin.

She hesitated a moment, taking a deep breath, before knocking on the door.

Rose clung to the door as it swung inward. “Oh, hi Rey!” Rose beamed, and the distinct smell of cannabis wafted from the door. 

Phasma, sitting on the floor, leaned into view. “Oh, hey Rey. Come join us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mini apology to ZL for having to delete your comment on Part I so that I could get this to re-notify everyone about Part II. Your comment will live forever in my email.
> 
> I have an evening shift tomorrow so I don't know if there will be a post tomorrow night or not. I also have another project that I need to get working on, so I may not be able to update quite so often. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and for any comments you may have left.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've finally figured out what this fic is. It's an almost teen-slasher-alien-thriller turned porno - and it has the tropes to match.
> 
> FYI - there are some new tags for the fic and if you would like to read the CONTENT WARNING for this chapter they are in the ends notes.

“Come join us,” grinned Phasma.

 _Oh._ Rey blinked at them — Rose standing just inside the door and Phasma sitting on the floor near the back wall of the box shaped cabin. Apparently they were hanging out together, and, more than that, smoking dope. Maybe… maybe that shouldn’t surprise Rey. She knew Rose would sometimes smoke, and apparently so did Phasma, and they just spent the day at Snoke’s doing only god knows what, so maybe they needed to unwind. At least they were back at camp. 

And they wanted Rey to hang out with them. That’s what she had wanted, right? To hang out with Rose all summer? And if Phasma hangs out with them too that’s a good thing, right? So why does this feel…— 

“Rey?” Rose cocked her head. “Are you coming in?

“Ah, sure,” said Rey, and she climbed the two steps up into the cabin. 

It was like walking into a wall pot. The cloying smell hit the back of her throat and she gave a small cough as she took in the room. Phasma’s gear was piled in the far corner, and a feast was laid out in the middle of the room. A feast of cheese and chips and fruit and granola bars. There were a few plastic cups and a half empty bottle of white wine, and on the far side, by Phasmas, stood a tall silvery bong. “Would you like some, Rey?” Phasma asked, reloading the bowl.

“Ah—”

Rose grabbed her cup and moved closer to Phasma to make space; she flipped through her phone and suddenly catchy music started playing.

“Rey?” Phasma’s eyes were heavy and mellow, as she extended the bong and lighter towards her. 

Rey had smoked pot before. And it had been fun, sometimes. But between cost, and the chance of getting caught — and a few bad experiences with one set of foster parents — it wasn’t something Rey had any desire to do. Especially during the school year when she spent so much of her time studying. But this wasn’t really the school year… and the food looked delicious, and it sounded like Rose and Phasma were having such a good time… 

“Rey?” Rose looked up at her expectantly.

“Umm, yeah.” Rey toed off her sandals, sat down on the spot Rose had made for her, and reached for the bong. “Thanks.”

* * *

Rey slumped against the wall, watching the light fade from the sky. Earlier, Rose had traded the harsh lighting of the room’s bare bulb for a dozen LED tealights scattered around the room. The dim light was perfect for letting the music thrum her. Rey was high and it felt great.

“And then Hux barges in, flailing around, screaming his head off, because the damn weasel is biting his finger and he can’t get it off!” Phasma takes another handful of chips as Rose and Rey burst out laughing. Hux stories were even funnier while smoking pot. 

Rey turned for her cup, and almost knocked it over. Wow, she really was high. Whereas, she had barely drunk half a glass of wine all evening, she couldn’t even remember how many pulls she had taken. She had almost coughed on the first one; it barely made her feel anything at all. She’d taken the second and third still trying to catch up to Rose and Phasma, but after that she’d realized that this was a good high — good friends, good food — and she’d wanted _more_ of that feeling, so she’d accepted the bong each time it came around to her. 

Phasma glanced up at the window behind Rey. “I think it’s time now,” she said to Rose, and Rose smiled widely. 

Rey lolled her head to look at Rose. “Time for what?”

“This is really cool Rey,” the shorter woman said as the tall one rearranged the camping gear in the corner. “This is what Snoke’s had us working on.”

The beat of the music sang in Rey’s chest, and her eyelids hung heavy. She felt warm and sated, and her curiosity was peaked at the mention of what they’d been doing. She sat up a little straighter, though, admittedly, she still needed the wall for support. Yup, pretty damn high.

Phasma came over to Rey, carrying a medium sized pot — a plant pot — covered with an upside down cardboard box.

“What is it?” Rey asked.

“Snoke found one of these growing in the woods,” said Phasma as she lifted off the box. 

The pot was filled with a rich dark soil, and growing in it was the oddest of plants. It’s stem and leaves were red, but so dark they were almost black. The stem flopped forward and an immature looking flower hung closed.

Rey stared at it. “Is it,” — Rey searched her mind for the right word — “an orchid?” 

“Umm.” Rose schooched closer while Phasma took a seat by the wall across from Rey. “He calls it a nightbloomer. It’s something different altogether, but check this out.” Slowly Rose extended her pinky finger and very delicately stroked it down the plant’s stem.

Like magic, the plant perked up at Rose’s touch, the head of the flower lifting to as if to regard Rey. Rose stroked the stem again and Rey’s eyes widened as the flower began to bloom before her eyes, unfurling and petals lengthening; it was like watching a time lapse video. And again Rey thought that it looked like an orchid, mainly that the _flower_ looked like some mix of genitalia.

And then Rey caught a whiff of it’s scent. It crept up her nose, leaving a light tingling feeling in its wake. She breathed again, leaning in towards the plant. The scent may have been sickly sweet, but it fed that tingling feeling, until it _glowed_ it felt so good. 

Rey pushed herself away from the wall, spreading her legs on either side of the plant so she could pull it closer. Without meaning to, she was breathing in short little huffs, leaning in instinctively to try to catch more of the scent. That glowing feeling was starting to fade and she was chasing it.

“Here,” Rose said, moving closer. “One more should do it.” And her friend gently stroked the plant one last time. 

The flower opened further, like it was preening for Rey, and a puff of its scent hit Rey right in the face. She breathed it hungrily and she felt it blaze not just in her nose but down her throat and in her lungs. The glow shot down her spine and curled into the spot between her legs. She felt like she was even glowing there, glowing and wet, and it felt better than pot or sex, or anything Rey had ever experienced. 

Rey slumped back against the wall, her mind fogged by the pot and blissed out on this new sensation. For a time she was hyper aware of her own body — how good it felt — and her mind could take in little else. She lay there for time — a minute? ten? — before she finally noticed movement on the other side of the room. It was Phasma and Rose. Actually, it was Rose sitting _on_ Phasma. Actually it was Rose straddling Phasma. And they were… kissing. 

_Oh_ , Rey thought in the back of her mind. _That’s nice._ Rose had dated a girl a few years ago — between several boyfriends — and Rey wasn’t exactly surprised that Phasma liked women. She couldn’t help but watch as hands slithered up and down their bodies, cupping and pinching, as tongues battled back and forth. Rey could feel the emptiness between her legs ache as she watched Rose grind her hips down onto… onto their old TA.

 _Huh_. Maybe this was why Rose had encouraged Rey towards Ben.

 _Mmm. Ben._ Ben probably had a big cock, Rey thought. Rey could use a big cock right now. He could fill her up any which way he wanted to as long as he gave her all of it. _Fuck_. She felt _so_ horney and _so_ empty. For a moment she felt the urge to touch herself but it seemed like a lot of effort, to move. But she could still think of him. Yes, Ben’s cock would be perfect right now. She could give him head. He’d be salty and tangy, and maybe he would throat fuck her. She would swallow him down, _for sure_. And then maybe he would still be hard enough to fuck her properly. Fuck her into her stupid fifteen dollar mattress, and fill her up with their offspring— 

Rey — the Rey on the inside of her mind — blinked, metaphorically, taking in the scene of Rose and Phasma still making out on the other side of the room. 

_Wow_. Rey wasn’t sure if it’s the pot or that plant, wow something was making her so… _horney_. Had she almost touched herself? In front of Rose? Wow. She still felt tingly all over, and she was still high — and she could really use some alone time with her vibrator — but at least some of that _effect_ was wearing off. Her body felt loose and heavy — although, she realized, if she stayed in this position any longer her neck was going to kink. 

So Rey shifted— or tried to. 

Her limbs twitched, but didn’t go anywhere. Rey tried to move again but her leg only shifted an inch. She tried to speak but only a whimper escaped her mouth. 

Rose noticed and disentangled herself from Phasma. “Are you okay, Rey?” She knelt down and Rey swore her eyes lighter than before. “What’s wrong?”

Rey tried again — to move her mouth, to strain her limbs — but they barely budged, as if held by an invisible force. A grunt of frustration escaped her.

“Easy there, Rey.” Rose cupped Rey's face in her hands — “Don’t worry, Rey.” — and gently turned her head so that Rey was staring straight at the nightbloomer’s flower. “Everything’s going to be okay.” 

And Rey — on the inside — felt panic rising up in her just as Phasma stroked the plant’s stem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Peer pressure. FOMO. Cannabis. Alcohol. Brief mention of bad foster parents. Hot lesbian make-out session. Paralysis.
> 
> Author’s note: So this next section had some pretty tropey use of cannabis / substances. Believe me I’m not trying to make any statements on cannabis or other substances. People’s relationships with substances are complicated and their impacts range widely from positive to negative. I’m not trying to say if the use of cannabis or other substances is good or bad, their just a tropey part of the story.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING for this chapter in the end notes.

Rey drifted in a blank white void. For ages she hung there, her consciousness reduced to a single point of frozen bliss.

But the mind has mechanisms to combat tonic stimuli. Neuroreceptors downregulate themselves and metabolism pathways shift. 

One cannot remain apart from the world forever; the world will always call you back…

* * *

Rey edged towards consciousness, as if she was buried under a hundred blankets and they were being lifted off one at a time. 

Her body still echoed with ecstasy, but at least she was aware of her body — that she had arms and legs and that they were folded an odd way; that she was moving. She was being carried, she realized, cradled in someone’s arms. 

The _why_ didn’t seem important; that question still lay many layers above her.

A cool breeze brushed against her cheek, trying to rouse her. It brought into focus the crickets chirping in the background, and the sound of footsteps on a leaf strewn path.

The footsteps changed to the hollow sound of walking across wooden boards, and only then did Rey realize there was not one set, but two.

A door opened on squeaky hinges, and the air warmed around her. The crickets faded and there was a musty, earthy smell here. A dozen more steps and Rey was set down on something soft. She thought there were still two people with her — one arranging her arms and legs, the other moving about the room.

Another set of footsteps entered, and a deep, harsh voice spoke — a voice she knew well. “Did any harm come to her?”

 _Snoke_. 

The name slid across her mind, but when she tried to reach for it it skittered away. Something was happening — something important — but she couldn’t remember what. 

“No,” came the reply. 

_Rose?_ Rose was her friend; she would take care of Rey. 

“Good.”

Rey willed the layers covering her to give way, and her eyes slid open. The room had exposed wooden beams, and a great stone fireplace on one wall. A living room. She lay on an old couch with a brown floral print, her head turned a bit to the side. She could see bits and bobs of rusty farm equipment here and there as decoration. Rose and Phasma were a few steps away, standing before Snoke. It was just as Rey saw the plant — the nightbloomer — sitting safely in the corner that Snoke noticed she was awake. 

“Ah.” He came and knelt beside her, peering into her eyes with icy blue eyes. “Young Rey…” 

It was only then that Rey tried to move — to shift, to sit — and found that her body would not respond, and only then did she remember the feeling of being unable to move in the cabin. In her mind Rey bolted awake, railing against the walls of her mind, yelling, screaming, glaring — but all she could do was speed her breathing slightly. 

“Such spunk. Hmmm.” He inspected her like an insect. “You’re upset. We’ll correct that in a moment, but first I need…” 

He reached his hand towards her, and Rey felt her heart rate spike at the sudden thought of where he intended to touch her. Her shirt suddenly felt too thin, her shorts too short. His knobby hand inched closer… closer—

— to simply cup the side of her face and he just held it there lightly. Her eyes darted about his sun-damaged face. From this close she could see the pale scars where he’d had skin cancers cut away, so many that his face was asymmetric. 

She wished she could push him away. Or kick him. She would settle on biting him if only her body would respond. She tried all these things but it was pointless. She relented, letting her mind rest, and it was then that her idle mind asked, _What is he doing just sitting there?_

It was then that he gave a low cough and his mouth opened a bit. Was he going to speak? Rey shuddered at the thought that he might lean in and lick her, but her thoughts turned to shock as something emerged from his mouth — a small white head, with beady eyes, followed by a thin snake-like body. On the inside of her mind Rey screamed.

The creature hissed at her, revealing a flat toothless mouth and a broad tongue. It maneuvered onto Snoke’s shoulder, and started to slither down his arm. Rey desperately tried to command her limbs but they were like lead, and completely inert. Her eyes darted about the room and back to the snake-thing as it eased along Snoke’s arm. It was less than a foot long. She strained her eyes to the side but it’s head passed out of the edge of her vision.

_No. No. No. No!_

She felt the thing nudging at her temple, and she heard it hiss again. Something warm and wet attached to her skin there—

— and then something was inside her mind with her, something… insidious. 

_**Ah... there you are,** _rang a deep resonant voice, it’s tones drawn out. _**I advise you not to resist. Doing so will only make this… unpleasant…**_

 **Rey was four, and the woman that had been looking after her said that she was going to meet her foster parents — the first set — today.**

Rey tried to push the presence out of her mind, but suddenly the snake’s body crackled with a purple spark and she felt pain explode on the side of her head and in her mind. 

**Rey was thirteen, lying in her bed. She panted as she touched herself for the first time.**

Rey tried to focus again; she needed a different tactic. _Who are you?_

The presence seemed amused by her attempt to distract it. _**We are a symbiotic species. We have existed in this form for longer than your species has been sentient.**_ It seemed to enjoy telling her this, but it did not slow its perusal of her mind. 

**Rey was seventeen, she lost her virginity to the cute guy from chemistry class; thank god she brought a condom.** **The next week Rey started on the pill. They dated over the summer but broke it off before she went to university.**

Rey glanced at the tail of the snake, draped over Snoke’s arm. _So you intend to make me your symbiont._

**Rey hooked up with a cute boy on frosh week, but never saw him again. On the second week of classes, Rey touched herself to thoughts of her biology TA. _Hmmm._ She did so on many other occasions. **

_**Oh no, child. The zillo**_ — and at this Rey somehow knew it was referring to the snake-thing — _**is the symbiont**_. _**You**_ — you humans — _**are simply our next host.**_ AndRey suddenly had an impression of _something else_ residing within her professor’s body.

Rey shuddered.

**It’s winter break and Rey hasn’t had anyone in her bed for months. Spending money on birth control she didn’t use seemed pointless, so she stopped taking it.**

_**Excellent.**_ She could feel satisfaction rolling off the presence as it withdrew from her mind. Rey panted, exhausted and her head still ached where the snake — the _zillo_ — had stung her. The warm feeling and the hand left her temple, and she forced her eyes open; she needed to see this. 

“She will make a fine vessel.” 

Rey forced her eyes open. 

Snoke was speaking to Rose and Phasma, regarding them both in turn. “And as soon as your own contraceptives have worn off, you too will be able to offer yourselves to breed.”

_Oh god._

Rey searched the room again — looking for something, anything, that could help her. She’d be more than willing right now to club someone with a lamp, or take a swing with the rusty hand-scythe hanging on the wall, but to use them she would need to be able to move. She tried again, and again but her muscles were simply dead weight. 

Her eyes fell on the nightbloomer. She wondered if they would drug her again before they… converted her. Perhaps, she thought, that would be the easier way to go. Rey could feel a tear gather at the corner of her eye.

The Snoke-thing knelt before the plant, caressing it’s petals. “It’s almost time.”

Reverently, Rose picked up the nightbloomer and set it on the floor before Rey, her face only inches from its ‘flower’. It seemed fuller than before, especially a bulge in its center. 

“I sense questions in you, but all will be made clear soon.” He gave a nod and Rose moved her hand next to the top of the nightbloomer’s stem.

This was it then.

_Knock-knock-knock._

Rose froze, and Rey watched as both Snoke and Phasma turned their heads to regard the front door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: Snoke is creepy AF, but nothing 'happens'. Non-con voyeuristic mind reading. Electrocution. 
> 
> I take back what I said last chapter. This fic is **body snatchers** turned porno (thanks for that Mdnghtphyre).
> 
> If anything here wasn't clear feel free to ask; I will answer what I can.


	8. Chapter 8

The knock hung in the air. 

Snoke spoke first. “Change of plans. Quick, to me.”

Rey figuratively breathed a sigh of relief as Rose moved to Snoke’s side. He placed a hand on Rose’s head, the other on Phasma’s. On Rose’s side the zillo appeared from inside his shirt sleeve, while a _second_ white snake emerged from his mouth to slither towards Phasma. 

_Oh god, there’s more._

The zillo — (under normal circumstances Rey would now be trying to guess how to pluralize the name of a new species; _zillo?_ _zillos? zilla?)_ — the snake-things hinged their mouths and attached themselves to Rose and Phasma’s temples. For a moment they stood like statues, and then the two snakes detached themselves and disappeared up Snoke’s sleeves. 

Rose turned to the nightbloomer, and Rey braced herself for oblivion, but instead of stroking the plant Rose simply moved it to the side of the room, placing it like an ornament. Task complete she and Phasma ducked away into another room.

Snoke walked in the opposite direction, taking a hall that Rey could not see down. For a moment she was left alone in the quiet living room.

_knock-knock—_

The door squeaked open and she could hear the faint patter of rain. 

“Ben.” Snoke sounded surprised. “I thought you’d be out on the South Trail.”

“I, ah- I forgot some of my equipment, so I came back and I was, ah…” He paused, regrouped. “Are Phasma and the girls here?”

“Oh, yes actually. And it’s probably good you’re back. Come in.” 

There was a slide of fabric and Rey could imagine him taking off a wet jacker. 

“I hate to say it but they aren’t in very good shape at the moment.”

“What?” Ben entered the room a moment after Snoke, his eyes finding her on the couch. “Rey?” 

A sinking feeling was building in Rey’s stomach. _Ben… I’m so sorry, Ben._

Ben approached, unaware of her concern but his own showing more on his face with every step. Snoke watched him with calculating eyes. When she didn’t move Ben got right down to look at her. _“Rey?”_ He turned back to Snoke. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Ah- a bad trip, as they say. It would seem that young Rey had a supply of not only _weed_ but magic mushrooms. She either really overdid it or they were laced with something.”

She could see the moment Ben believed the lie — how disappointment crossed his face — and though her fear she could feel her blood boil. 

“Oh. And Phasma and Rose?” With calloused fingers he deftly checked the pulse at her wrist. 

“They also partook, but to a lesser extent. They’re resting, in the back.” Snoke was slowly circling the room now.

“Should we take her to a hospital?”

“I’ve been in touch with the doctor at the emergency room. He suggested we observe her here for now.” Rey could see where Snoke was heading now; the nightbloomer. 

Rey flung her eyes between Ben and the plant, but he just cupped her cheek and whispered, “ _Shhh”._ It was hopeless; she had no way to communicate with him. 

“You know,” Snoke started again. “Phasma and Rose were very helpful today… with a new project I’ve been working on.” 

“Oh?” Ben offered half heartedly as he peered in her eyes; he did it just the way she thought he might. 

_I’m so sorry, Ben_. 

“Yes, it’s a new species.” Snoke set the plant in the middle of the room, but when his student continued to examine Rey, his tone turned to annoyance. “She’ll be fine for the moment.”

Chastised, Ben released her face. He shifted himself to sit by the plant; Rey had a perfect side view of them. “Oh, it’s um…” He cocked his head to squint at the plant's heavy flower. “Is it an orchid?”

The question only made Rey feel like she was losing more.

“Not quite.” Snoke’s voice had mellowed — as much as the sound of pouring gravel could mellow. “Its species has a… strange biology. Let me show you…” Snoke raised his hand to the stem of the nightbloomer.

 _No, please don’t._ Rey didn’t think the thing inside Snoke could hear here anymore, but she had to say it anyway.

Regardless whether it could or not, the Snoke-thing met her eyes with a triumphant smirk and stroked a finger down the plant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr](https://darksideofme-reylo.tumblr.com/post/615976415419154432/strange-biology)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The CONTENT WARNINGs for this chapter can be found in the end notes.

Rey lay frozen on the couch, able only to watch as Ben sat in front of the nightbloomer and Snoke stroked its stem. 

Ben jerked back as a puff of mist caught him in the face. “What—” he started, but his question died in the air. “Oh…” he said with a dazed enthusiasm. He leaned into the mist slightly, nose leading, the tension in his shoulders draining away. “It’s…” His voice was hollow.

“Yes…” Snoke studied him from behind the plant, a diabolical grin on his face. “Isn’t it?” He stroked the stem again, and a lesser spray sprung forth. This time Ben inhaled into the mist, his eyes sliding shut. 

_Oh no._ This was it then. She’d clung to the hope that _somehow_ Ben would realize something was wrong, that _somehow_ he’d sense the danger lying here. But now he was in the throws of the plant’s ecstasy and soon he would be just as incapacitated as Rey was.

But something nagged at the back of her mind. 

_A lesser spray…_

Rey blinked (not figuratively or metaphorically, but actually blinked). The plant needed time to recharge itself — like any other species would. It has biological limitations; it wasn’t infinitely powerful.

And with that thought, a tiny spark of hope rekindled in Rey’s mind. 

“I had planned on Rey assisting me with this particular specimen.” Snoke drawled. “But since she is indisposed, perhaps you would be able to.”

“Mmm,” Ben opened his eyes, his pupils rolling back in his head momentarily before focusing on the nightbloomer. 

Snoke’s gaze narrowed, displeased with how Ben was responding.

He wants this to be over, Rey realized. He wants this to be over because he sees Ben as a _threat_. It made sense. Physically, Ben was a rudely large man — but that was also _why_ Ben may be responding slower. Whatever chemical was in the spray was likely being absorbed into the bloodstream, and a larger body had a larger volume to fill. It would take longer for Ben to be affected. There still might be time for Rey to do something, but what? She tried moving her legs again, but they wouldn’t budge.

“Here.” Snoke slid the plant forward until the pot bumped against Ben’s legs. “Take a closer look.” The flower — now the size of a hand — tilted upwards as if sensing Ben’s face only inches away. 

_Shit_. Rey tried her arms and her fingers twitched. The drug was wearing off, but slowly. 

As Ben stared into the bloom, Rose and Phasma emerged from the back of the cottage to stand on either side of Snoke. If Ben was aware of their presence he showed no sign of it. 

Rey was still trying to move, when a sudden flash caught her eye. The flower’s central bulb had split down the center, revealing a sliver of pure white beneath. The bulb pulsed and the crack widened, revealing a slick looking surface inside. 

But Ben didn’t seem to register the change. He stared as if hypnotized, his face only a hand’s span from the bloom. As he exhaled the bulb flexed again. 

_Shit_. It was responding to his breath; it could sense his presence. The whole plant seemed to straighten, the bloom aligning further with his face. One of its petals grazed a stray lock of his hair and a small puff of mist shot out. 

Ben inhaled deeply — his eyes closing — and gave a long exhalation. The bulb sensed this too and it split completely apart. The white circular lump at its center _wriggled_.

 _Fuck._ Rey tried to flex any part of her body, but her fingers barely moved this time. The only thing she could feel was a slight tightening of her throat. She gave the slightest exhalation and a tiny sigh resonated there before she cut it off. It wasn’t much but it was something.

Ben still sat, eyes closed. From the center of the gooey lump, a spike of white protruded, groping blindly towards Ben’s face. It was trying to touch him; it nearly was. 

_Shit_. This was it. Rey had to do something. Now. Rey forced her diaphragm down, strained to engage her vocal cords, and gave out the loudest shout that she could. It hit the room like a strangled, “ _AHHH!_ ” 

Ben’s eyes flipped open, and he let out a, “Gah!” 

His legs shot out, the plant tipped over and the room exploded in a collective cry from the other side of the room. “ _NO!_ ” Phasma dove for Ben, barreling him backwards, while Rose knelt to scoop the slug in her hands. 

“What the fuck!?” cried Ben as Phasma pinned him to the floor. He tried to kick her, but his movements were clumsy. 

As for Rey, Snoke glared at her with disdain. “Foolish girl!” 

Rose circled to kneel at Ben’s head, gripping it with her thighs. One hand fisted in his hair to hold it still while the other dangled the slug directly over his face.

“ _What the fuck is that?_ ” Ben struggled under the two women. _“Rey!”_

Snoke turned away from her to gloat over Ben. “Don’t worry. Soon everything will be clear to you.” 

“ _Get the fuck off of me!_ ” The slug dripped onto Ben’s nose, quickly covering one nostril. Ben thrashed in a panic. “ _No, NO!_ ” Rose had both fists in his hair now, trying to hold his head steady. The slug bunched at his nostril and then shrank to half its size. “ _FUCK YOU!_ ” Ben swore as it bunched again and the rest of it disappeared into Ben’s nose. 

His leg shot out at an odd angle, connecting with Snoke’s. It wasn’t a hard blow, but it was enough to pull the attention of Rose and Phasma. Ben yanked an arm free to punch Phasma squarely in the face, knocking her out cold, and then he was shoving Rose into the corner. Ben stood, mad eyes finding Snoke. “ _Get it out of me!_ ”

“Insolent boy,” Snoke sneered and lifted a hand in front of him. The snake-things curled into his palm and purple sparks danced along them. He moved towards Ben, holding the ball of lightning threateningly. “You dare defy _me_?” As Snoke pressed in, Ben was forced back into a corner filled only with a few knobby brooms. “I will _conquer_ your species and _bring order_ to this planet.”

Ben’s back hit the wall. 

The lightning flared in Snoke’s hand. “And _you_ will bow before my _power!”_

And Ben, whose hand had gripped one of the knobby sticks in the corner, stepped forward, arm swinging in a giant arc towards Snoke. 

And Snoke’s eyes went wide as he saw that the handle was tipped not with a straw, but with a scythe’s blade.

The wicked instrument peirced Snoke’s flank and Ben’s arms rippled as he swung the blade clean through the front of Snoke’s abdomen, blood gushing everywhere.

Rose screamed.

The zillo shrieked.

The Snoke-thing sank to the floor, gasping.

And for a moment — as Rey’s eyes found Ben’s across the room — Rey thought they were going to be safe… 

Until Ben’s body seized and he let out a cry that hurt Rey’s ears. Rey watched in forzen horror as Ben collapsed, clawing at his face. There was blood now as he rolled on the floor, yelping, the pitch of it building, until his back arched for what felt like an eternity and he went completely limp. 

_Ben._ His body lay completely still; she wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. She would have watched him until she saw that he was, but there was movement in the room; the only person left standing. 

Rose. 

Rose rushed to Snoke’s side, trying to hold the wound together but it was huge and pumping blood. 

_“The girl! You must—”_ he choked out, before he twitched sharply and slumped. Rey watched as his breath rattled out of him. Maybe if he was dead Rose would come back to herself. 

But then Rey saw it. A twitch on one side of Snoke’s nose, just before a creamy white ball formed at the nostril. The slimy thing squirmed and pulsed and squirmed and pulsed, easing its body — three times the size of the other worm — out of Snoke’s nose. 

Reverently Rose cupped it in her hands, and turned to Rey.

 _No. No! No Rose!_ A strangled sound came from Rey’s throat, but it did nothing to slow her friend.

Rey still couldn’t move, but Rose was taking no chances. She straddled Rey’s chest and arms. The snot-toned slug started to slip over the edge of Rose’s fingers and down towards Rey’s face.

 _NOOO!_ Rey’s eyes flung about, and her arm twitched but she was powerless to stop it.

The slug was wet, sticky, and it was the most bizarre sensation as it slid into Rey’s nose, inch by inch. Her nose tingled where it slunk through her nasal passages. She kept trying to scream, to do anything, as its tail slipped inside her completely.

Rey looked back and forth between Rose’s eyes, but only uncaring ones stared back. 

The slug felt so far back now, Rey wondered just how much farther it could go. 

And then she felt a spike of pain deep within her head, and the world went blank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS: non-consensual brain worms (are there any other type?), physical altercation, blood and gore, pseudo canon-typical violence, seizure-like activity, minor character death (Snoke).
> 
> Sorry that took an extra day, but it needed the extra attention. Hope you enjoyed.
> 
> This next chapter might take a couple days too.
> 
> [Twitter](%E2%80%9C)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS for the chapter are in the end notes.

Rey was drifting again, but unlike the white blissful ecstasy induced by the plant, now Rey was lost in darkness. Black gossamer threads and twisted vines of smoke clouded her mind. The only thing that anchored her was the pain, a piercing, throbbing ache at the center of her skull. Clinging to the pain she willed her mind to focus. Something had hurt her. She could still be in danger. She needed to get away, but first she needed to see. 

She tried to open her eyes, only to realize that they were; her clouded mind wasn’t processing the signal. It was trying to look through a window from across a room — only able to focus on a random sliver of the world outside. She willed herself closer, though it still felt like gazing through tinted glass. 

The rustic living room was darker now; the only light came from a fire burning in the hearth. Bodies lay on the floor, casting long shadows. All were tall. One was a woman. One was old. One was— 

_Ben_. 

_**Ahh. You’re awake…**_ The voice reverberated throughout the space within her mind, and she was vaguely aware of one of the zillo at her temple.

Rey shouted at her body — to move, to run — and for a moment her muscles weakly heaved against scratchy fabric, but the darkness swelled around her. The outside world dimmed and distantly her limbs collapsed. Only her breathing continued to race as she strained to move her body.

_**Calm yourself, child.** _

She did not; she would not; (she could not). Her nostrils flared, panicked, and this is when she felt it — a resistance as her breath flowed through her nose. _Oh god._ As the air pumped in and out of her, she could feel a cool sensation with her nasal passages — a cool sensation, everywhere but at their deepest point, where the pain in her head was rooted. _Oh god_. It was still inside her. 

**_I apologise for your discomfort. Allow me to remedy that…_** A warmth coursed through Rey’s veins, and the ache at the center of her skull receded. _**Is that better? Do you see how I can help you?**_

She stared out the window, trying to will away the fog that had settled beyond. _It would be better if you left,_ she thought back.

_**Is that so? Perhaps you are not considering all the possibilities.** _

The haze before her started to clear, but Rey sensed it was not due to her efforts. The scene felt distant, like watching a play unfold. A shadow entered the room. _Rose_. She set down a large potted plant — a normal plant — in the corner. The room was filled with dozens of plants now. 

_**Your friend is hard working. I would not want anything unfortunate to befall her.** _

Rey held her tongue; she was no stranger to causal threats. If you held your tongue they would always give you more to work with.

Rose turned to go, but not before grabbing the sickles on top of the mantle. The walls were practically bare; she’d removed anything that could be used as a weapon. 

_**You could ensure her safety. The safety of all your friends,**_ the voice droned, but the rang hollow as Rey’s eyes fell on Snoke’s eviscerated corpse. 

The presence seemed to sense her attention and the scene outside of her dimmed again. _**Here, allow me to show you.**_ Rey’s attention was dragged from the window. She found herself staring at something quite different. A wall of dark glass. 

_**You understand that humanity is the cause of its own suffering…** _

She could see her reflection dimly in its surface, but as she was pulled closer the image changed. Now she was dressed in a regal black gown — beautiful, immaculate — as throngs of people cheered around her. _**Together we can save them from themselves.**_ Her reflection turned and walked forward, through a parted sea of adoring faces; Rey’s perspective seemed to trail at her heels. She could see the faces of her friends in the crowd, healthy and smiling. _**They will love you and you would want for nothing.**_

The image of her ascended a dais, topped by a massive black throne. Noone seemed to question it’s strange architecture. _**You could have anything you wanted.**_ A familiar figure greeted her at the top of the steps, tall, dressed in black, offering his hand.

_Ben..._

**_Yes. If that is what you want._** Her image took his hand and drew him close for a kiss. They looked so beautiful together, so happy. 

_**Join me and this can all be yours…**_ the voice continued to offer. _ **You will never hunger**_ — and suddenly Rey felt well fed — _**you will have your friends**_ — Rey could hear Rose’s cheering voice in the crowd — _**and those you love**_ — the two images straightened, hands clasped as they turned to the crowd. It was so tempting… but… 

A flicker of movement drew her attention back out the window. Ben’s hulking form was still lying on the floor. One of the zillo undulated atop his head, its mouth attached to the gash that crossed Ben’s face. His leg twitched.

Her eyes snapped back to Ben’s image. His image was smiling, but it was _off_. There was something wrong, she realized. Something _inside_. If only she could _see_ … 

_**What are you doing?** _

She was in front of her own reflection now. She reached towards the glass — 

_**STOP!** _

— and time slowed as her fingertips pressed against it. 

Her reflection still stood regally, hand outstretched to connect with her own, but Rey could see within it now. She saw the worm — the slug — sitting at the back of her nasal passages; she saw the proteinous spike it had launched towards her pituitary; she saw its glands preparing neurotransmitters and hormones to inject into her body.

But most sinister, she saw the new neurons that the slug was slowly growing into her brain, replacing her until there was nothing left.

 _NO!_

Time snapped back and Rey recoiled from the wall, thrashing at the darkness that had surrounded her. 

_**Join me and rule forever.** _

**__**_No!_ She scrambled for the window — she needed to connect to her body — but it seemed to recede as she moved forward.

**_It is your destiny. I will only give you one more chance._ **

**__**_Never!_ Rey kicked at the darkness. She was closer now.

_**Insolent child.** _

She was almost there, but a pain suddenly spiked through the center of her head, fracturing her focus.

**_You are now mine! If you will not give yourself willingly, then I will simply take what I require._ **

As the slug emptied its glands into her body, she could feel her mind starting to unhinge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: (old) blood and gore, non-con, having your mind invaded by a terrifying alien presence.
> 
> Sorry this took so long. Several draft had to be binned before getting it to this point. I hope it made sense and that you enjoyed it.
> 
> Thank you so to those that have been leaving comments, especially last chapter. They mean so much.
> 
> PS: if there are ever tags you think I should add, please let me know :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part II: Transformation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to give the heads up that things become explicitly sexual in this chapter. If you're squickish about non-consensual sexual contact, this may be a good place to stop. That being said, my goal here is to explore dark content while maintaining the protagonist's (Rey's) humanity.
> 
> If you would like to read something lighter, may I recommend my stranded-on-a-frozen-planet fic [Thaw my Frozen Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22179160/chapters/52948825).
> 
> The detailed CONTENT WARNING for this chapter can be found in the end notes.
> 
> PS: I've cleaned up the tags and also relabeled chapters 1-10 as "Part I: Induction".

Rey raged as the room within her mind was divided by invisible partitions. Alien neuropeptides coursed within her brain, altering signaling pathways, segmenting the space that Rey’s conscious self occupied until she was shuttered away in a small, dusty corner. On the inside Rey kicked and screamed, but the barriers would not budge. 

Rey turned on the dark glass wall, throwing her hatred at; maybe she could hurt the slug this way. But if the slug noticed it gave no indication. The zillo at her temple detached its mouth with a hiss and the dark glass vanished.

On the inside she started to panic, though you wouldn’t know it looking from the outside. Her respiratory rate was slow and even, solely regulated by the structures in her brainstem. 

Her arms and legs had turned to lead again. She could still feel her body; she felt as the zillo slipped down her neck and over her chest. She heard it land with a _thump_ on the floor. 

She couldn’t move her eyes any more — she couldn’t even close them — but her head was still turned and she watched as the snake slithered across the fire-lit room to Phasma. It spread its mouth over her temple, and it sat still for a long moment before the woman’s body twitched and it let go. When Phasma sat, Rey could see the blood that had trickled from her nose; if she knew it was there she did nothing about it. 

The zillo whined at her — a pitiful chirp — and pecked at Snoke’s trousered leg.

Even if she could have moved she may not have been able to turn away. She felt her gorge start to rise as Phasma rolled up their professor’s pant cuff, opened her pocket knife and cut a chunk of flesh from his calf. She set it on the wooden floor, methodically cutting it into smaller pieces before tossing them to the creature. It chirped happily as it snapped them out of the air. 

Rose entered just then, the other zillo twined in her hair. She snatched the knife out of Phasma’s hand. “No sharp things. Get this out of here,” she said with a kick to Snoke’s corpse.

Phasma didn’t protest, or nod or give any sort of acknowledgment of the command. Instead she simply stood, grabbed their professor by the ankle, and unceremoniously dragged him from the room. The first zillo hissed and trailed after her, still begging for more. 

No one seemed to mind the congealed blood that Snoke left behind.

Rose crossed to the only body left on the floor. Ben’s body. 

Rey tried to watch, but only Ben’s legs were in her field of view. She could hear Rose’s footsteps stop — she must be by Ben’s head — and for a long moment the only sound was the rain outside. The moment passed and suddenly Rose was leaving again, following Phasma into the back of the cottage, the second zillo no longer in her hair. 

For a moment Rey could hear Rose talking in the other room before the sound was cut off by the slam of a metal door.

The fire popped and crackled; the room was humid from the newly placed plants. The moment almost felt calm — when Ben’s legs twitched. 

At the very edge of her vision he sat, then stood. 

Rey’s heart sped up as he stopped in front of her. All she could see was his legs. 

_Ben?_

He knelt, first one knee then the other. As his face bent to hers, the first thing she noted was the zillo at his temple — its body snaking in and out of his thick, dark hair — but it was his eyes that held her attention as he leveled his with hers; tawny and cold. 

His face held no emotion and his voice croaked at first, quickly smoothing into liquid smoke. “My queen, I am here to prepare your body.”

Alarm bells rang, and Rey railed against her invisible prison. _Oh god_. 

Rey had seen how the slug intended to use her body — to alter it — but it had been like momentarily glancing at a building’s worth of blueprints. She had a general sense of the end result, but none of the details — especially no sense of what was to happen next.

But the slug’s prison was perfectly constructed. Rey could find no way out, and could only blankly watch as Ben gently set the zillo on her abdomen and stood. 

His shirt hit the floor as the zillo slunk over her shirt and up between her breasts. It slithered underneath the fabric, curling inside her bra around her breast. She may have paid it more heed but attention was drawn by the chiming of a belt being unbuckled. 

_Oh god._

She was going to be raped and forced to watch it, unable to move or fight or even scream. She could feel a tear gathering at the corner of her eye as her thoughts raced.

 _At least it’s Ben_. Perhaps that was a ridiculous thought, but this was happening to her and she was entitled to think whatever the hell she wanted to about it.

Ben’s pants slid down, and she watched his sculpted legs step out of them. _At least they matched the rest of him; lean and strong_.

And with that thought something else stirred in Rey. She could feel it in the shadows of her mind. Something hungered — and Rey realized what she was sensing. Her limbic system was still receiving inputs from the rest of her body, but was no longer inhibited by her forebrain. It was like Rey was viewing a dark version of herself, awoken by the sight of Ben’s naked body.

She would have considered this longer, but Ben was moving again. She expected him to start undressing her, but instead he just knelt again, his waist — and therefore his very obvious erection — at the level of her face.

Her thinking mind tried to distract itself, trying to answer how this would further the slug’s plan, but her libido was loudly fawning over the sight. She could feel her cunt grow swollen. She was wetter than she’d ever been, and when she looked carefully at Ben’s angry looking cock she saw it too was _dripping_. It would seem her body wasn’t the only one being modified.

She wanted to panic as the naked mountain rolled her closer to the edge of the couch. 

_It’s Ben. Just imagine this is grumpy biology Ben. Imagine this is real._

One chiseled forearm held her in place as the other adjusted her legs so she wouldn’t roll off. Satisfied with her position, Ben shifted his knees to line himself with her mouth. Her shadow self was scratching at the walls in anticipation. 

_Just try to relax. Try to enjoy this. It will be better that way,_ she thought as she stared it down. _You can do this. You’ve thought of this before. You’ve wanted to._ She had; more than she would ever admit. _You’ve been here a few weeks, and you and Ben really hit it off. He invites you back to his cabin. One thing leads to another…_

It was easy to imagine it was real, because her dark self was going wild, projecting thoughts of exactly how far down her throat she wanted him to ram it; her cunt gushed in sympathy. 

He brushed the tip of his leaking cock along her lips and two things happened. 

The first: where he touched her, her lips exploded in pleasure, the sensation comparable to her first kiss. 

The second was that she could feel her mouth and tongue clench, and her eyes dart to the side — under her control.

The slug was giving her one last chance — to participate — and it was promising endorphins if she complied.

And it struck Rey that while the slug had rapidly gained control over Rose’s and Phasma’s and now Ben’s bodies, it didn’t yet have control over hers — not yet, anyway. It was once again presenting her with a choice; participate and be rewarded or don’t and… it would take what it wanted. If she didn’t comply it would just paralyse her again, she supposed.

But why bother asking when taking was an option? Unless there was a benefit to her participation — what that was Rey didn’t know, but perhaps she could hinder it by resisting. The end might be the same, but she’d know she’d done everything she could to — 

— a tiny drop of water landed — _pat_ — on her upturned cheek. 

Rey forced her eyes to slide up Ben’s chiseled torso, angling her head to find him looking down at her. 

Ben’s face was stoney, his eyes strange, but there was a glistening around them. 

He was crying. 

_Ben?_

As his hand guided his cock back across her lips — again releasing the promise of pleasure — another tear trickled down his cheek. 

_No…_

He was locked in too, forced to watching as his body prepared to rape her barely responsive form. 

Ben’s firm hand slid around the side of her head and into her hair. Ultimately there was no way she could resist him, but she could try. She could make it difficult. How long could she keep him out? A minute? Two? Or maybe less.

Ben’s hips pressed forward, the tip of his cock pressing against her teeth. The slug must have recognised her resistance because it provided no pleasure with this contact.

Ben’s body pulled back to adjust the angle when — _pat_ — another tear landed on Rey’s cheek… 

And Rey opened her mouth. 

Ben’s body paused for a moment, perhaps confused by her sudden invitation, but only a moment. 

As Ben’s cock pushed into her waiting mouth a wave of artificial ecstasy washed over Rey, and she tried to imagine herself — alone with him — anywhere but here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING - paralysis/locked in, blood and gore (desecration of a body (not sexual)), non-con/rape (oral).
> 
> After-notes: Rey made a choice in this chapter. I'm not saying that it was the _right_ choice, nor am I saying it was the _wrong_ choice. It was _her_ choice. Other people may have made a different choice and that's okay too. 
> 
> This scene will be continued in the next chapter.
> 
> If you have comments or questions I would love to hear them.
> 
> Schedule-wise, I'm a little worried because I've had to re-draft and re-draft the last couple of chapters, and I have another project I need to get started on, so things may slow down quite a bit but I am very interested in completing this fic, so please stay subbed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The CONTENT WARNING for this chapter is in the end notes (though there is nothing you shouldn't already expect).

During her first year of university Rey had made more new friends than she had in years, and yet at night, as she lay on her dorm room bed, she found herself feeling lonelier than ever.

It had been reading week — while many of her friends were back visiting their families — when Rey finally took a walk to a sex shop and bought a vibrator. She’d chosen a simple black one; her biology TA, the once she spent too much time thinking about, always seemed to wear black. She’d thought it was about his size, the vibrator.

She’d been wrong; Ben Solo was bigger.

And the part of her that had driven her to buy the vibrator panted as his cockhead bumped past her lips; it shivered at how his calloused fingers gently held the back of her neck. 

His hips slid forward and she let her jaw hang slack, her lips and tongue immobile.

If the thing controlling Ben was frustrated by Rey’s lack of participation, he didn’t show it. He simply began to work himself in and out, along her cheeks or the roof of her mouth. She gagged, only once, and he moved to her tongue. The gelatinous liquid that oozed from his tip had a fruit-like sweetness that was shockingly appealing. It made her mouth water. 

And on the inside Rey was being torn apart. She didn’t want this — she _knew_ she didn’t want this — and yet the voice on the other side of the wall whispered just how good he’d be to her, how well he would take care of her. All she had to do was wrap her lips around him and suck.

She forced her mind to another place; a place she knew well.

_It was after exams and Rose had dragged Rey to a crowded pub to celebrate with biology friends. Rey got the bench seat. She realized too late that the next table was full of their TAs. Someone knew someone, and suddenly their tables were being pushed together. Rey was bumped down the bench to sit next to—_

_“Ben,” she says cheerfully, already a little buzzed from the beer she’d had at the dorms._

His cock slid slowly in and out, more liquid dribbling in with each pass. The inside of Rey’s cheek tingled where it pooled. 

_His cheeks were flushed. “Rey. Hi,” he said, his glassy eyes fixed on her._

_She would have been happy sitting a normal distance from him, but several more people slid onto the bench, forcing her leg right up against his. “Oh, sorry.”_

Her libido whispered to her how good it would feel to push her head forward, to demand he push himself deeper, but she resisted, trying to solve the issue of her mouth overflowing. There was no real solution, other than letting the liquid leak from her mouth. It started to dribble from the corner of her lips.

_“Mm, no problem,” he replied. The waitress arrived. “Can I buy you a—”_

“Drink, my queen.” Ben’s voice rumbled, and Rey jolted back to reality.

 _Drink?_ As in to consume a liquid for nutrition? Rey blinked and another tiny rivulet escaped the corner of her mouth. 

_Drink?_ How much? They had only barely started and she already had a mouth full of it. And, more importantly, _why?_ The volume was clearly unnatural, the content unknown. What was in it, and what would it do to her? 

Of course Rey’s disinhibited self was wholeheartedly agreeing; its lust for sordid contact now perversely bolstered by both Ben’s gentle command and Rey’s enormous love of food. 

It was so wrong and yet it promised to feel so good; it wore on Rey’s resolve.

Another drop started to roll towards her chin. Her eyes darted around as her mind tried to think of an alternative. Rey was good at finding alternatives — how to afford university _and_ rent _and_ food; how to make everyone _else_ happy — but no ideas were forthcoming. 

And then her eyes became sluggish in their movements; the slug was starting to paralyze her again.

_No._

The moment she stopped moving again was the moment all hope died, so she did what she dreaded and gave a tiny swallow. A dob of goo slid down her throat. It was warm, but the warmth didn’t stop at her stomach; it kept descending to the very bottom of her torso, to pool around her sex. If she could have moved it would have left her squirming. 

Her shadow self was bleeding into her consciousness now, begging Rey for more. It was like standing next to a dark hole. Rey didn’t know how deep it was, or what was in it, but here she was contemplating jumping in. If the alternative was paralysis, then really she had no alternative. 

And so Rey shut her eyes and closed her lips around Ben Solo’s cock and swallowed again, taking the plummet into the dark unknown. 

* * *

Rey didn’t return to her fantasy. She didn’t really want to. 

Ben’s cock was sinful and delicious, and the line between her and her shadow self blurred as he rode deeper and deeper into her mouth. His curls tickled her nose and cheeks and chin. 

She should be gagging now, but wasn’t. Whether the slug was inhibiting her gag center or there was some kind of anesthetic in Ben’s precum, Rey didn’t know but — to be honest — neither did she care. Her shadow self howled with the power of a raging storm, and Rey was all but swept away. 

She might come, she realized as her tongue traced his length. It would take hardly anything at all now. If she hadn’t been paralysed from the neck down, her own squirming legs may have pushed her over. 

Ben cock was moving faster now; he was leaking more liquid too, and Rey swallowed thirstily every few thrusts. It was like lemonade on a hot day — something to be guzzled — and as each gulp slid down her throat, pleasure bloomed in her core. 

There was an urgency building in Rey, crescendoing with Ben’s movements. And they were _Ben’s_ movements, she supposed with a last sliver of rational thought. His libido would have been hijacked just as hers had, so the way his hips snapped into her, the way he shuddered as she hollowed her cheeks, those were Ben's actions and reactions, Ben’s neuropathways. She’s not sure if that made her feel comfort or sadness, because the moment was interrupted by the sudden stutter of Ben’s hips. 

Buried to the hilt, Ben came and as Rey swallowed she transcended the separations in her mind, her true self coming together in a single blinding flash as euphoria rolled through her in waves. 

And in the aftershocks of pleasure, as she felt her darker self fade back into the shadows, Rey knew that humanity was fucked. If this was what the slugs could do, then stopping them would be impossible.

Ben slowly withdrew and rested on his heels. Sweat gleamed on his shoulders in the fire light.

For a long moment, they both panted into the quiet of the room, and Rey had absolutely no idea how to feel. Her eyes traced and retraced the fresh scar on Ben’s face. 

She wondered if they would expect her to sleep now; she wondered if she could. The slug could probably make her whether she wanted to or not. And whenever she awoke, would she still be herself? What other things will have changed? What will the alien substance she’s ingested do to her?

Her anticipation crested as Ben rose again to his knees, but turned to confusion as he spoke. “Again,” he panted. She didn’t quite follow until she realized he was hard once more. “Again, my queen.” 

And Rey felt a sting of guilt as her mouth dropped open for him, faster than it had to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: non-con/rape (oral).


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't believe the alien tabloids. Being the broodmare for an alien species is not glamorous. 
> 
> As usual, the content warnings for this chapter are in the end notes.

The night became a haze, a blur, as he took her by the mouth over and over. Her existence alternated between partaking of his cock, and gazing at his chiseled torso as they recovered in between. She didn’t come every time he did — but she came often enough. 

It was as she lay panting, after the seventh time, that Rose suddenly moved in the background, adding another log to the fire. Phasma was there too, Rey realized, leaning against the wall, her gaze attentive but detached — not at all like she was watching a sex act. How long had they been sitting there? 

For a moment, Rey thought she should feel embarrassed — horribly mortified — and yet some part of her understood that there was no need. Normal human responses weren’t required when the other participants weren’t driven by normal human motivations.

The thought chilled the remaining fire in Rey’s blood, and she became aware of her body’s _other_ needs. As if triggered by that awareness the room sprang into action. 

Rose — the other zillo in her hair — carried over a large platter. She directed Ben — still unabashedly naked — to sit back against an armchair. The platter was filled with the most random assortment of food: some of it was cut fruit, but Rey swore one pile was a lump of flaked meat, served straight from the case with no bread or crackers or utensils to eat it with. There was a small pile of rice, but it looked uncooked, and beside it two bottles of sports drink. Belatedly, Rey realized they were probably hers, but the thought of their taste was completely unappetizing. 

Ben — and she tried to tell herself that Ben wasn’t really Ben, that Rose wasn’t really Rose, and Phasma not really Phasma, but adding labels like ‘ _the-thing-controlling-Ben_ ’ was simply too taxing — Ben obediently started to eat as Phasma scooped up Rey in her arms. Rey had gained some neck control, and caught a glimpse of Rose inspecting Ben’s knees as Phasma whisked her from the room. There was blood on his knees; whose, she wasn’t quite sure.

Phasma moved swiftly, but with care, never once bumping Rey’s leg or arm into a doorway or wall. Despite this, the zillo, still tucked in Rey’s bra, seemed to dislike the arrangement, and quickly slithered up Rey’s neck to wind atop her head in her hair.

The tall woman ducked them into an almost pitch black room. Phasma flicked the light on, revealing a dated bathroom. The sink and toilet were a dusty pink, the claw-foot tub was chipping around the edges. 

It would seem Rey’s needs were public knowledge.

Before Rey could contemplate what exactly was to transpire, Phasma hoisted her over one shoulder, legs dangling. The large woman slipped down Rey’s shorts and underwear and deposited her on the toilet with the care and detachment of a well paid health care aide. 

Phasma crouched in order to hold Rey upright by the shoulders, bringing Rey face to face with her eyes. The irises had nearly turned hornet yellow, darkening towards the edges. They held no judgement, no leering. They were the eyes of someone performing their assigned task; the eyes of a worker providing for their queen.

Rey wasn’t sure if her voice would work, but she didn’t bother trying. Her words wouldn’t be heard, and she didn’t want the slug to punish her, to take away what little mobility she had earned. 

Rey turned away, picking a point on the wall to stare at while her body took care of its functions. After, Phasma efficiently cleaned and dressed her. That Rey’s clothes were put back in place — at least for now — seemed a minor relief. 

Once again Phasma scooped her up in a bridal carry, and as she turned them around Rey caught sight of herself in the mirror. 

Phasma’s and Rose’s and Ben’s eyes weren’t the only ones changing. 

It wasn’t just a trick of the light. Her eyes were blue. Not icy like Snoke’s had become, but certainly not her usual hazel. 

The light clicked off and her head felt clearer as Phasma carried her back towards the dim living room. Heat and humidity caressed Rey’s cheek as they entered. 

It was with a jolt of panic that Rey realized that Phasma was laying her down not on the couch, but in the middle of the room. Her hands were strong but starting to slide off and Rey was still a few feet from the floor. She was going to drop her —

— and then Rey’s back touched down on something soft and Phasma gently eased her down. 

Rey turned her head. It was a mattress, a tall one, still covered in a plain beige fitted sheet. It had apparently been placed in the center of the living room while she was gone — right over top of Snoke’s drying blood.

Rey was positioned along the edge furthest from the fire, Phasma kneeling beside her as she adjusted Rey’s arms and legs, and beyond Phasma stood Ben. 

He was craning his head up to guzzle the last of a red power drink, stomach taught, as Rose knelt at his feet, applying bandages to his knees. Apparently the slugs didn’t always take care of their hosts, even the ones they were still using. 

As he lowered the bottle his eyes fixed on her, and Rey knew that their night was not yet done. Rose and Phasma scampered out of the way as he walked towards Rey.

She was so tired; her jaw was sore. He libido whispered promises of yet more pleasures. But whether she listened or not, she knew the slugs would not be deterred.

When Ben knelt beside her, he cupped her cheek and his voice was like liquid thunder, “Again my queen. We must continue,” and his eyes were, again, lighter than before. 

* * *

The cycle repeated. He would take her by the mouth and, resist as she might, lusty impulses would worm their way into Rey’s psyche. She lost track of time, of how many times she swallowed him down. 

Sometimes Rose would make him stop; make him rest and drink. 

Sometimes Phasma would whisk Rey away to the washroom. The process was taking an obvious toll on Rey’s digestive track. Soon she would have nothing left in her. Perhaps that was the point though she had yet to comprehend why. It was after these breaks that Rey felt most like herself, but the effect was soon lost when Ben invariably insisted they continue. 

And rarely, when Rey was drowning in the pleasures of Ben's cock, she knew she was being watched. The presence peering into her mind was more subtle now, more nebulous — a spider checking on a trussed up fly from the other side of the web — but she could still sense it.

It was only as the sky outside started to lighten that the presence seemed to retreat, and Ben finished for the last time. Phasma took her to the bathroom one last time; in the mirror Rey’s eyes were another shade lighter. 

This time Rey was laid in the middle of the mattress, and a light sheet drawn up over her. 

Ben had pants on again, she noted as he climbed in beside her. He turned her towards him, resting his forehead against hers before laying his arm — thick like the limb of a meaty oak tree — across her hips, tucking a thumb in one of her belt loops. The changes of escape grew slimmer. 

She could feel sleep starting to take her as the warmth of his body urged hers to relax.

It was then that the zillo in her hair stirred again. It crawled down her face, but then lifted itself up towards Ben’s, and just as its pale body touched his on the forehead, Rey sensed a presence within her mind. Not the one with distant malevolent eyes, not her shadow self, but a tall, broad figure, one she could pick out from across the street as she walked to chemistry class, one she had memorized as she listened to his dulcet tones explaining Mendelian genetics. The impression was not strong, but she’d know that figure anywhere.

“Ben?” Her lips moved before she realized she’d spoken and two sets of eyes turned to her: those of the figure in her mind, and those of the body that lay encircling her. Two sets of eyes, the same and yet different.

What this meant she didn’t get to contemplate; with a flash of annoyance the slug within her flexed and she was dragged into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: paralysis; non-con/rape (oral); weird voyeurism that isn’t really voyeurism?; assistance with activities of daily living (voiding).
> 
> Okay, for real this time guys. I need to start turning out chapters for this other thing I’m doing, so things will probably be slow until the end of June. Sorry to have to do this at such a critical segment of the story, but I still hope for sporadic updates.


	14. Chapter 14

A tiny crescent of sunlight crawled across Rey’s cheek, seeming to linger at the corner of her eye. She woke with a start. 

Rey lay flat on her back, without even a pillow to prop up her head. Above her dark wooden beams framed the white plaster ceiling. Her breath caught in her throat.

Snoke’s cottage. 

A warm, slow exhale played across her neck; something heavy pressed against her left side. 

Slowly, she shifted her eyes — just her eyes — towards the weight, first finding waves of dark hair, and then Ben’s sleeping face beneath. A swirl of images flew across her mind, variations of the same act performed over and over again. 

She knew the memories were real because she could feel them echoed in her body; the soreness in her jaw and throat, the flush of arousal in her sex. 

Her breath was coming faster now, creating an off-beat rhythm with his. He was curled against her, his cheek against her shoulder, his arm across her hips, his leg slung over hers. It was an embrace for lovers, but Ben — no, not Ben; the slugs, the slugs were controlling his body — the slugs were using his body to keep her trapped here; to prevent her escape.

Which is exactly what she had to do. 

Her eyes flung around the room. Golden beams of light slanted in from a window. In the last of her memories the sky had finally passed from black to a dark blue/grey. Now it was pinky orange. Had she slept the whole day? She eyed Ben again — wondering how much longer he would sleep — and as she took in his peaceful features a memory flitted through her mind. She tried to catch it, but it banked into the far reaches of her mind, still hazy from the night before. 

She shook the nagging feeling, and turned her eyes back to the room. She found a spot where a tiny beam of sun touched upon a small hole in the wall — it looked like Rose had removed not just the decor but the mounting nails too. She memorized the hole’s location, before she let her eyes and ears scan the room. The tops of plants poked up here and there at the edge of her vision. The fire crackled to her right; the room was hot and humid, though not uncomfortable. Beyond the sound of their breathing and the sound of insects outside, the cottage was otherwise silent. 

She moved her eyes back to the wall. The dot of sun was above the hole now. The light was angling upwards; the sun was setting. She had slept the whole day. Ben would wake soon and here she was trapped under his bison-sized body. The thought rekindled the tension between terror and desire. She wanted to run but at the same time the thought of what Ben’s body would soon do to her — what he might force her to do — made her heart beat faster for reasons other than fear. 

No. Thinking like this wasn’t going to help her escape. She needed to shut down that part of herself — resist it — and regain control. 

She needed to distract herself with something more practical, something like — had Ben even been on her left side when she fell asleep at dawn? Hadn’t it been her right? She had been so tired — exhausted really — that it was really just a haze; though as she tried to picture that moment she again had that feeling that there was something she had forgotten, something important. Other memories came to her as she tried to concentrate, memories of Ben shifting her in the night — like a bird or snake turning an egg. She supposed that was important — the slugs were taking very good care of her body while she couldn’t move it — but that wasn’t _the_ important thing. The memory wouldn’t come, but her heart was slower now.

And at least her mind was clear — or clearer than it had been since she was brought here. Within her mind there was no ominous presence, no peering eyes. The partitions were still there, but they seemed less solid if such a thing could be said. Her breathing had slowed down again, and if her breathing — like her eyes — was once again under her control, then perhaps so were other parts of her body. She turned her head a hair to the left, and then another. She wanted to see how her left arm was trapped under— 

Rey froze as the slug shifted at the back of her nasal passages. 

Her heart pounded again in her chest. 

Of course it was still there, what was she thinking?

She counted to ten. 

Twenty. 

And then— 

—nothing. 

The slug was still again, and she felt no change within her mind. Perhaps it too needed some form of sleep.

Well then. Perhaps moving her head could wait (and Rey tried not to think about how any form of escape suddenly seemed just that more impossible). 

Rey decided on her hand, her right hand — the one not being slept on by a buffalo. It wasn’t like moving her eyes or neck — those had come easily whereas her hand still felt impossibly heavy. But Rey searched the partitions in her mind and found that some had doors now; she just had to find the right one, the right dozen. She pressed them open as she moved across her mind. Her fingers twitched. It was working; she retraced her path, re-opening doors that had slipped part way closed. Slowly her fingers flexed, then extended. Her wrist was next. Then her elbow— 

Something shifted in her hair, and Rey froze again as the zillo eased itself onto her forehead. She closed her eyes as it glid over her face. It was all she could do to lie still and keep her breathing even. 

_Shit_. 

It slid off her chin and between her breasts, and finally over down her arm to stare at the fingers she had been moving just a moment ago. She couldn’t actually see the snake — not without moving her head — but she knew — she _knew_ — that’s what the pale creature was staring at. Was it going to bite her? Chew off her digits? If she screamed would Ben wake up and stop it? 

She could feel its attention on her. It drew closer to strike— 

Its snout bumped against her index finger, and it made the most pathetic whine. _Bump_. It nudged her again, a little stronger this time. 

Oh god, what did it want? Was it like her old neighbour’s cat that would always beg her to play just so it could turn and bite her? Or did it just want to prove she was awake; betray her to its master?

Its body and tail twitched in annoyance and it gave a little chirp to match.

To move or not to move; what was she supposed to— 

The front door creaked open, and the zillo reared its head. 

Footsteps; light steps in hiking sandals. _Rose_. The zillo slithered down her and plopped to the floor just as the steps entered the room. 

_Shit_. Was she about to lose her only advantage — that she was awake while no one else knew — because of the damn snake? 

Rose’s footsteps paused a little inside the room. Rey slowed her breathing even more, trying to match Ben’s. A moment later Rose walked around to Rey’s right, but then came the sound of wood being added to the fire.

The zillo whined again, and Rey could picture it staring up at Rose, mouth-half open. Would it tell her now? That Rey was faking? 

But then Rose swept from the room, and a trail of happy chirps seemed to exit with her. Rey strained her ears, trying to follow Rose as she walked deeper into the cottage. A soft bang and then, fainty, there was the low pop-and-zip of a can of food being opened.

Rey chanced opening her eyes. The room was empty again except for her and Ben. The sky outside was clearly dimmer, turning pinky purple. 

She was running out of time. 

Rey flexed her wrist again. It took all her effort but she bent her elbow, and it was easier the second time. 

A clank of dishes came from down the hall. 

_Shit_. She started working on her leg. She wasn’t really sure why. Why bother walking up her body if she couldn’t get out from under Ben? Even if she could, moving her head would wake the slug. Even if it didn’t, where was she going to go? She had no idea where the keys to the van or Snoke’s car were. Was she going to run through the woods to the highway? She’d never make it, not before the slug woke and paralysed her again.

She was just straining to bend her right knee when footsteps approached again. Rose. Rey let her body slump, hoping she was in the same position as before. 

The footsteps moved to the other side of the mattress — Ben’s side — and there was a faint click of dishes before the footsteps came back around to Rey’s side. 

Rey fought the urge to look. Why was Rose just standing there, looming? Why— 

Something touched down on her chest, over her shirt and between her breasts. At first she thought it was Rose’s finger, but then the rest plopped onto her abdomen — the snake again — and the footsteps walked into the cottage.

The thin, muscular body moved up Rey’s torso, and when it passed the collar of Rey’s shirt and touched her skin, Rey could practically picture the beast moving towards her face. It climbed her jaw to stare down at her. Rey could smell something fishy now — tuna? salmon? Apparently Rose had just fed it. 

It occurred to Rey that if its breath smelled, then at least that implied that it breathed. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was somehow comforting that the snakes shared this in common with other complex organisms. If only the creature wasn’t looking down at her she might be able to enjoy the discovery. 

Rey could feel them now, tiny puffs of air on her lips as the creature hovered over— 

It pressed its nose to the corner of Rey’s mouth; she held her lips firm. What the hell was it doing? It pressed again and, again, Rey resisted. 

At this point it _must_ realize that she’s awake, but what was it— The memory of it emerging from Snoke’s mouth came to mind. Oh god, was it expecting her to— 

It pushed harder at the corner of her mouth and she cracked an eye to look at it. The white snake saw the movement and stopped to return her gaze. 

For a long moment they regarded each other. She wondered if she could move her hand fast enough to cover her mouth, and at the thought the creature slumped and gave a pathetic whine. It pulled at Rey’s heartstrings; all it wanted was somewhere dark and warm to— 

Rey stared, stunned. She could _feel_ the creature. 

That’s what was happening. Since the moment it touched her skin she had sensed a faint impression of its body, like an extension of her own, but now she could also feel its disappointment that it was being denied shelter. It was like the creature has created a tiny space for itself in her mind — glassy, dark — letting her peer into it.

And as if in response to her new line of thought, the zillo cocked its head at her, curious. 

As Rey stared at the tiny creature, the missing memory nagged at her — and then she caught a glimpse of it. The snake — the zillo — had crawled down onto her face — not the time a few minutes ago, but before she fell asleep. It had crawled onto her face, and then had stretched out to touch Ben— 

— and she’d seen Ben in her mind, behind dark glass. 

She looked to Ben — still sleeping peacefully — and back to the zillo. 

_Oh holy shit._

And as she thought this, the last rays of sun disappeared from the room, and suddenly she could feel a different presence awaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so that other writing thing I was doing... it was really stressing me out and whenever I tried to work on it all I wanted to do was come and write this fic. And so I quit; and I felt eight million times better after doing so.  
> No promises on the schedule, but it will certainly be faster than if I had kept the other thing going.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being quite different than I expected, and in retrospect it might be better if it was just tacked on as the end of chapter 14. It may eventually get reshuffled onto 14, but for now this is good enough.
> 
> I hope this makes sense.
> 
> The content warning for this chapter is in the end notes.

The room within Rey’s mind was larger now — it had expanded as she had regained some control over her body — but the moment the sun’s light disappeared the vaulted ceiling was filled with pairs of unseen eyes, peering from everywhere and nowhere. 

Rey froze, like a deer in the headlights, both physically and mentally. 

During the school year, she’d taken advantage of the free yoga classes taught every Thursday morning in the quad. But while she had enjoyed the combination of strength and flexibility, she had always struggled to quiet her mind. Thoughts of school, or money, or a certain tall dark-haired TA always seemed to creep in.

This time, however, Rey’s mind was blank as a slate, and for a moment the presence seemed confused at this lack of Rey. 

The zillo, still hovering over her, suddenly jerked to attention and slithered up her face. It pressed its warm wet mouth to her temple, and the zillo in her mind was replaced by a dark glassy wall, boring down on her. _**Ahhh,**_ _**there you are.**_

No. It had found her. Rey scrambled back from the wall but the glassy barrier pressed towards her, shrinking the room down again. She could sense the presence within the glassy plane, a torrent of dark images, too many to count, and the sight of it made her stumble. She might have tried to study them but she could feel the presence trickling through her mind again — the sight and taste and feel of Ben inside her mouth flashed through her awareness.

 _ **So, have you had enough time to reconsider my offer?**_

Her heart hammered. She couldn’t hide from the thing inside her head and her body was still trapped under the mountain that was Ben. She kept searching for a way out but there wasn’t one.

She could feel the presence growing annoyed with her silence. Its attention turned, scanning her mind, settling — displeased — on the doors she had reopened. She could feel it reaching out to close them.

* * *

Ten year old Rey stood straight as an arrow, chin tucked in, trying to hold her arms flat against her sides to make herself small.

Mr. Plutt, of course, was the opposite. He seemed to large for his roller chair as he sat behind his desk, as if the poor thing was destined to collapse at any moment. “So _Rey_ —” Rey was standing to the side of the desk, close enough she could smell the sardines and onions on his breath. “— why don’t you tell me how this twenty got out of my wallet and into your backpack?”

Did he not remember? Rey thought. Did he seriously not remember that she’d done the _exact_ same thing this time last year — that she’d stolen twenty dollars to buy one of her foster-brothers a birthday present?

Plutt leaned forward and the roller chair creaked in protest. “Well?”

“I…” She’d only done it because Plutt never gave her any kind of allowance, not even for all the chores that she was made to do around the home. She’d really thought she was going to get away with it this time. One of the older boys must have ratted her out.

“I can’t hear you.” 

“I…” Of course last year she had admitted to it, told him exactly why she bought it. She had thought that honesty was the best way to go; that’s what her first foster parents had taught her. But then Plutt had taken it out on the other child, her friend. She couldn’t let that happen again. “I wanted chocolate,” Rey lied, meekly peeking up at him.

Plutt sat back and smirked; she knew Plutt had a stash of chocolate in the top drawer of his filing cabinet. “Hm. Hand out. Five strikes. Don’t do it again or next time it will be twenty,” and with that he grabbed the aged ruler that was sitting on his desk.

When she left his office, the corners of her lips curled as she nursed her stinging hand.

* * *

The presence reached out and the farthest door began to tremble.

No. She couldn’t lose that again. _He’ll be safe?_ she blurted into her mind.

The door stilled, and she could feel the slug’s attention turn back on her. 

Her eyes flicked to Ben. _He’ll always stay with me?_

 ** _Of course._** The voice sounded pleased, and — if such a thing could be said about immaterial awarenesses — the presence reached out to her to help her to stand. Its touch felt sickly, corrupted, but in that moment she could pick apart the images within the torrent; she even thought she recognised one but there was no time to dwell as the slug’s scrutiny. _**And for now —**_ She could feel a door shift, but this one was opening. _**— all you have to do is do as he asks.**_ She could sense her darker self emerge, confident, approaching behind her. _**Can you do that?**_

She nodded — 

_**Good.** _

— and her body shivered as her dark self stepped forward into her, the two forms merging to become one. A flush of arousal washed through her, while partitions fell inside her mind. For a moment she was drunk on the sensation.

 _ **Very good.**_ And with that the zillo detached and the dark wall morphed momentarily into a snake before it slithered off her body and its presence disappeared. 

She could feel the slug pulse inside her then. It was injecting her again, though not with a neurological blockade — the doors in her mind remained open — but with something. A lot of something.

But she didn’t have time to think on it, as suddenly Ben began to shift next to her. Her body was still weak but she managed to turn to him, and when she saw his face she stared — not at the zillo at his temple, but at the hornet yellow that his eyes had turned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: implied mild physical abuse by past shitty foster parent.
> 
> Just a reminder that consent under duress is not consent.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually chapter 15 probably should be merged with this chapter. I might do that later depending on the chapter counts.
> 
> The content warning for the chapter is in the end notes. There have been some tag updates.

As Rey stared up into Ben’s golden eyes, she tried not to think about what the change in colour meant. She tried not to picture how the slugs had hijacked his nervous system to commandeer his body or wonder if there was any of him left. 

She couldn’t think these things because she wasn’t completely sure that the slug couldn’t read her mind without the zillo.

They weren’t pure yellow, she realized. There were streaks of brown hidden behind the lacy webs of gold that formed his irises. They studied her with a devotion that Rey had never seen directed towards herself before — though she may have wished for it more than once. 

She forced her eyes to make a circuit of his face and smiled — meekly — as they came back to his golden disks. She knew her uncertainty was bleeding through to the surface — but that was safe to show. She was pretty sure they were expecting that. 

Slug-Ben smiled back down on her; the expression looked so odd on Ben. “My Queen.” He bent forward suddenly. The sound of his inhalation was loud in her ear as his nose raked up her neck. “It’s time for us to move on.” 

_Oh_.She swallowed. She had expected that their actions would _move forward_ — she just hadn’t expected it so _soon_ for some reason. Oh course, why wait? Their new alien overlords had a whole world to conquer. Regardless, she couldn’t balk now. 

As he settled back over her she nodded — outwardly. 

Just try to relax. She didn’t think it would be hard; her reintegrated libedo was practically singing to promise of what was to come. It would be easy to let go, to let that side of her take over for a time. She needed to save her strength. She needed to last until morning — if there was anything left of her. 

She waited — obediently — as the second ticked by. He was still looking at her, but there was something distracted in his eyes, like he was listening to someone else. Nervous thoughts started creeping in. She wondered things like if the slugs were going to strip her completely naked — really just half would suffice — and who they would undress first, her or Ben.

The zillo detached from him suddenly and slithered away. She sensed it — in her mind — as it grazed past her fingers, but then it was gone and suddenly Ben had leaned in and was — 

— kissing her. 

_Oh._ Her eyes closed and her body melted into the tender softness of his lips. His hand was cupping her face and she found her own feeble limbs yearning to touch him back. She was able to drag an arm up to wrap around his back, feeling the muscles in his back shift back and forth as he adjusted himself over her. His tongue quested in her mouth now, finding hers and sliding along it. She had imagined kissing him before, but this was better than any fantasy she had ever had. 

Carefully he wedged a knee between hers and her body craved to accept him, relaxing her legs apart so he could rest against her. _Fuck_ , she could feel him — _all_ of him — against her, and briefly thinking-Rey registered the wrongness of the situation — the implications — but she had to let that go. Bad broodmares have their freedom taken away. 

He started to kiss his way down her neck, using his massive hands first over, then under her shirt to massage her breasts. He lifted her shirt and bra and placed his lips around her nipple and _sucked_ , sending Rey cresting on along a wave of pleasure. Her old partners had never done that, and _fuck_ it felt so good. Thinking-Rey, tucked in her corner, briefly pondered why the aliens would bother with foreplay. Probably to warm her up she decided; to maintain the compliance of their skittish incubator. Any further analysis was permanently shelved as he changed to the other nipple, leaving Rey panting at the ceiling. 

It was some minutes later that Rey felt his hands at the zipper of her shorts. _Just try to enjoy this_. Morning was a long way off. 

Her libido complained at the loss of him when he sat off to her side, but it seemed to forgive him as he stripped her lower half bare. 

This is it, she thought, but he didn’t undress himself. He resumed his place between her leg, and started to rain kisses down her abdomen, not slowing until his lips closed over her clitoris. Rey’s dark side was practically doing back flips, her body panting and begging for more. His tongue slid forward, hot and wet, exploring her clit before wandering the profile of her sex. She found her legs over his shoulders and her hands in his hair as he licked her up and down. 

She felt a pressure then, a questing finger at her entrance. A pouty groan escaped her mouth, only stopping as he advanced into her. She was so wet, her body offered little resistance to the single digit. He fucked her for a time with it, to the rhythm of his mouth. 

“Mmm.” _Fuck._ Her heels dug into his back, shamelessly asking for _more_. He slipped a second finger in. She _knew_ that it should feel tighter than that, but her thinking brain couldn’t quite place what changes the slugs had made to her body. Her darker side was in control now, riding the wave that he had built up in her body. He was knuckle deep now and his fingers were so _thick_ and _long_ and he was starting to crook them forward. 

Little mewling pants were escaping her now, as he built the tension within her. His fingers were firm, but his mouth and tongue were so soft. His every move was so precise, so powerful, and yet he never let up, the wave building within her, when suddenly he sucked hard on her clit and her orgasm ripped through her, causing her to clench down on his fingers, over and over. 

He diligently licked her through it all, and the ripples petered out. He lay her legs back down, arranged her body, and then spooned around her as she lay boneless. It took a long moment before she noticed that her throat was hoarse. 

Well, that was nice, she thought as her libido settled back for a moment. In other circumstances it would have been downright enjoyable, she lamented sarcastically. Apparently her current coping stage was humor. 

She could feel Ben, still hard pressed against her back. At least she was going to get to fuck Ben Solo, she quipped as he started to lay her on her back again. 

But then he surprised her for the second time that morning, when instead of reaching for his belt he simply repeated his refrain from yesterday, “Again, my queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: non-con/rape (cunnilingus). 
> 
> I hope Rey’s motivation is coming across okay.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Credit for the snake picture goes to Smoldering Serpents, and the Daisy picture is from daisy-ridley.net (so google tells me).
> 
> The content warning for this chapter can be found in the end notes.

“Again, my Queen...”

And she did. 

Again and again and again Rey came on Ben’s mouth and tongue and fingers. The fire-lit room was once again the backdrop to pleasure he induced in her body. 

Of course that wasn’t all they did. There were still breaks so Phasma could help Rey stumble to the bathroom — a glance in the mirror showed her eyes were icy blue now. At some point Rey lost her shirt and bra completely, and yet Ben only lost his pants when it was time to _feed_ her. His cock tasted as good as, if not better than, the night before, and in that way the night became a blur of making each other come.

Sometimes — between rounds — Rey’s eyes would drift open. Phasma only appeared at regular intervals to care for Rey, but Rose buzzed in and out of the room constantly, bringing food and water for Ben, tending the fire, or watering the plotted plants with an old aluminum bucket. The zillos — zilla? Rey still hadn’t decided — would make appearances too, sometimes on Rose’s temple, but more often they were just begging for food or curled up somewhere. 

Not that Rey was trying to pay attention; the less effort the better. 

Rey had almost drifted to sleep when Ben started to dress her again. The room was lightening; dawn was out the window. She’d made it, she thought. 

And with that, Rey was asleep before he could finish tucking her in.

* * *

Rey was lying on her side when she woke; Ben was spooning her from behind, one arm lying across her, his hand firmly around one of her wrists. She was turned towards the window, giving her a view of the clear blue sky. 

_The sky._ Blue. Not red or orange or pink but _blue_. _She’d woken in the middle of the day_.

But was she alone?

The cottage was quiet. The only breathing she could hear was Ben’s, slow and even on the back of her neck. She couldn’t see anyone else — at least until she noticed the little coil of white, nestled on the armchair. She wasn’t sure if it was the same zillo as the night before, but it could be. 

Rey blinked and thought about her plan again. It wasn’t much of a plan, more of a gamble — a big gamble — but her thinking-self had found no better options, so...

Slowly, Rey stretched out the fingers of her free hand — happy to find that they obeyed her commands — and laid them down on the mattress just as easily. 

If the zillo had noticed, it gave no reaction. 

Rey sighed, partly relieved but also frustrated that she felt relieved. _Come on Rey, this is not the time to chicken out._

She screwed up her courage and flicked her fingers quickly — neutral to straight and back — and the zillo’s head shifted slightly. Her fingers flicked again and the zillo’s head fully angled towards her before freezing again. 

_Please let this not be a mistake_ , she thought and she started strumming her fingers in a slow waving pattern. The zillo unraveled itself and plunked to the ground and Rey froze again. A small white head popped above the edge of the mattress eyes fixed on her digits. 

She gave the tiniest flick of her index finger and the alien snake slithered closer, hovering just in front of her finger. Its head and body were about the width of her smallest finger, but she knew it could open its mouth much wider. Its tongue flicked the air, waiting for her next move. 

_All in_ , she thought and she stretched her fingers towards the creature. 

It jerked back for a moment, and Rey froze, but when she advanced her fingertips again it bumped against them playfully, and the moment they touched she could _feel_ it. Its body flickered in and out of her awareness the contact broke and connected again. It seemed… happy. 

She let her fingers caress the side of its head and trail down its back. It chirped with pent up excitement. It felt more like befriending someone’s dog at the park rather than meeting a conquering alien force.

Rey experimented, petting it long strokes and short strokes. It _kind of_ had scales and they didn’t catch if she stroked the wrong way, but she clearly felt a preference for a head-to-tail stroke. After a minute, she figured out how to maintain contact by resting her pinky finger on the zillo’s body while her other fingers moved back and forth.

 _Good girl_ , she thought — though Rey wasn’t really sure of it’s gender — and the zillo chirped. _Oh. Can you hear me?_ she asked — if she spoke she would risk waking the slug — but the zillo continued to rub itself muscular body against her fingertips. 

But Rey wasn’t about to give up that easily. _Do you understand me_? 

The creature continued to bop against her hand. 

_Do you like this?_

_bop- bop- bop-_

Rey sighed — she shouldn’t have expected this to be so easy — but the creature’s hunger for attention was so palpable that she continued to stroke it until it happily coiled against her palm. Now that it was calm, she tried again. _Do you have a name?_ The zillo turned and cocked its head at her, as if it finally heard her, but still didn’t understand. _Can you help me?_

It blinked. 

_Can you show me Ben?_

It blinked again, unmoving. 

Rey sighed, but again pushed her disappointment aside. 

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused on the impression of the zillo in her mind.

She thought of her Ben at the front of her biology tutorial, thought of how serious he always seemed, and then she thought of the slumbering mass behind her, remembering how he looked in sleep the evening before. 

_Ben. Show me Ben. Please._

And she felt the zillo move. She could feel it slide through her fingers, but she also sensed its body moving relative to hers. She cracked an eye as it slithered towards Ben’s hand, gripped around her other wrist. 

She held her breath as the creature hovered beside his wrist, seeming to prepare itself before it leaned its upper body against the back of his hand, and a wall of dark glass appeared within her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: non-con/rape (cunnilingus, forced orgasm), semi-cliffhanger (I’m sorry; I’m know, I’m terrible).
> 
> I'm so happy to hear that Rey is coming across the way I was hoping; thank you to everyone who left comments last chapter. Also, there were some very interesting questions/ theories about how Ben is doing /feeling in all this. Do you think we should find out? *she asks innocently*


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“It’s called residual self image...”_

She closed her eyes — her real eyes — so she could focus her attention inward. 

The wall of dark glass stood a little away from her, as before, but the shadows within were still, void of the slug’s presence. She took a step forward, eyes sweeping from side to side. As she approached a lighter area appeared. She ran the last few steps and it resolved into a broad muscular back, its owner sitting — slouching — turned away from her. 

_Ben_ , she thought at him, but the figure did not move.

Rey reached out, as she had before; the glass was cool against her _hand_. 

His head shifted, as if he may have heard something. 

_Ben_. 

He jumped up and whirled, wide eyes fixing on her. His lips moved. _Rey?_ She couldn’t exactly hear it — not the way she could hear when the slug spoke to her — but it resonated in her all the same.

 _Ben_. Yes.

He hurried towards her. His top was bare, but he was wearing something like dark boxers — Rey couldn’t exactly _see_ herself, but she thought that she might be similarly attired, covered but not dressed. His eyes — brown eyes — were written with concern as they searched her up and down, but as he stopped on the other side of the glass his face took on a pained look and he swallowed. _Rey._ His lips pressed together before opening again, but when they did the movement seemed to blur together. She couldn’t make out what he said. 

_What?_ she said back.

His eyes narrowed and he stared at her lips. His mouth moved again, again a nonsensical blur. 

_Ben, can you speak slower? I can’t understand you._

He waited to see if she had more to say but then shook his head as his mouth smeared again in a blur of movement. The only word she could pick out was the last one: _Rey._

Well... Shit. 

The zillo could act a conduit between them, but using it to communicate was perhaps a talent in itself — one that the slugs were vastly better at.

With a sigh Rey’s eyes wandered the imperfect surface of the glass before her. 

The glass. 

_Ben_. 

His eyes snapped up to her. 

The hand touching the glass she left in place, but she held up the other making a show of spreading her fingers and purposefully flattened her palm against the surface, looking back and forth from him to her hand as she repeated the action.

He nodded, raised his hand, and almost touched the glass before hesitating. He searched her face again. 

_Ben, please trust me_ , she said more to herself, but perhaps something of the message got across because he nodded again and slowly placed his hand opposite hers. The shadows behind Ben began to shift, as if a wind had picked up, but otherwise there was no change. 

_Ben? Ben, can you hear me?_ she asked.

His shoulders slumped. _Rey_ , he said, but then his lips just formed the same shadowy blur, only solidifying when he stopped speaking.

She shook her head. No. I can’t hear you either. And how could they help each other if they couldn’t communicate? Damn it, it wasn’t working. She needed to think. She stepped back from the glass, resting her hands on her temples, trying to understand this place and its rules. 

Ben started to study the glass, running his hand along it. She wondered if he had seen it before, or was she the only host that the slugs interacted with that way? An anomaly? A kink in their system for species domination. But what was that worth if she couldn’t leverage an advantage? 

In her mind she sighed; she wasn’t sure if her body did the same or not. 

A warped tapping brought her back to Ben. He was studying the spot on the glass where he had knocked, and gave it a firmer rap. The corners of his mouth pulled down before he looked up at her. He waved his hand across his torso and his mouth blurred. 

What is he—? 

And then he formed his hand into a first and brought it down on the wall, and a hollow _boom_ reverberated around her. Outside, Rey could feel the zillo flinch as she watched Ben wind up for a second strike.

Rey rushed the window hands palm-forward, fingers wide. _NO!_

He caught himself mid-swing, and his mouth blurred as he lowered his arm. He looked quite contrite.

She stroked the glass on her side to reinforce that it was not to be damaged. _It's okay but we can’t do that_. Perhaps it was nonsensical to keep _speaking_ to him, but if any parts of her message were getting across she might as well try. 

Did he even understand what the glass was? That it _was_ the zillo? She caught his eye and tapped the glass lightly with the pad of her finger, and then made a snake-like motion with her arm. His head tilted as he stared at her. She tapped and gestured again, but when he shrugged his palms forward she dismissed the whole thing with a wave. It wasn’t really important, as long as he didn’t try to smash the glass again. 

For lack of anything better to do Rey placed her hand on the surface again, and was almost surprised when Ben’s hand came up to rest on the other side. She looked up to find him watching her with serious eyes, his forehead still creased.

She gave him a sad smile. _I’m sorry I don’t know what to do_ , she said, but regretted it when he almost seemed to shrink in stature and the creases in his forehead deepened. Oh no, that’s not helpful. She needs him thinking, not worrying. _Sorry_ , she tried to push across, but his expression didn’t change.

She sighed. If there was any way out of their situation they might find it, if only they could communicate. 

She huffed a small inward laugh. She had often thought, while sitting in class, that Ben Solo would be the perfect person to be stuck on a deserted island with. He was ridiculously smart — the notes he would put on the blackboard were always comprehensive and yet succinct. There was never a question he didn’t have an answer for, and the way he was built he could probably handle any physical challenges. Unfortunately, his strength was now more likely to _hinder_ her chances of escape rather than— 

_Rey._

Her eyes snapped back to his face. 

He was looking past her, brows drawn in concentration. _Rey…_ His lips blurred briefly, but she had the impression it was a question. 

Without breaking contact with the glass she turned from the glass to examine the space within her mind; it didn’t seem any different from before. She turned back. _What, what is it?_

He kept staring past her, but he was shaking his head now. 

_What is it, Ben?_

He held up his free hand a moment, asking for her patience. He closed his eyes, and the tension seemed to release from his forehead. 

Her eyes darting about his face as she waited, wondering exactly what— 

The shadows behind him swirled and parted, and suddenly Rey was in their classroom, the lights down, only she wasn’t in her usual seat. She was at the back of the class with a laptop and the projector, where Ben would have sat. There was a large yellowish frog on the screen. No, not a frog. A toad. Cane toads in Australia. It was a lesson on invasive species. 

Then the image on the screen shifted. A large slug — an actual slug — slowly moved across a leaf in some tropical jungle. A different lesson from a different day. 

Rey smiled — no, she _beamed_. 

_Ben._

His eyes opened and the scene disappeared. 

_Ben_ , she nodded smiling. He did it. They did it. They had some way to communicate, and her heart felt lighter as he gave her a hesitant smile back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone liked seeing real-Ben again. Don’t worry, he’s going to be around a lot more in the coming chapters.
> 
> Sorry if I led people to believe that we were getting a Ben POV chapter; I think I should have worded my endnote from last chapter differently. Believe me, I have considered switching to Ben’s POV a number of times, but I think the overall effect is going to be best by keeping this with just Rey. However I might do a short ‘companion’ fic of Ben’s POV afterwards.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  I keep forgetting to mention, I was very honored when this fic was selected to join the [Reylo Hidden Gems](https://twitter.com/reylo_gems/status/1265066997685063681) collection. The above moodboard was done by KyloxReyTFA as part of that.

Their attempts to communicate were quite clumsy at first. The first few times Ben would just look at her and shake his head, or if he was trying the smoke behind him would shift and swirl but reveal no message. 

But it was their failures — not their successes — that defined the rules of sending. 

Rule one. Sending required that the both parties touched the glass. Without contact, messages simply wouldn’t go through.

Rey realized this when she heard footsteps and ran to the window of her mind to check the living room. Ben had just begun to send a scene, but the half-formed images rapidly dissolved to ash the moment her fingers left the glass. The footsteps passed and Rey returned to find Ben pressed against the glass. _Sorry_ , she said, hoping she would read it in her face, and she placed her hand back to resume. 

Rule two. Sending required that _both_ parties shared the memory being sent. The garter snake that she found in Plutt’s garage, would not go through, but he nodded when she sent him the boa constrictor from her biology textbook.

She tried sending, _/ snake / glass wall / snake / glass wall /_ , but he just seemed confused. 

They could also intermingle gestures to expand on their vocabulary, like holding up two fingers. 

_/ snake / two / ? /_

His shoulders rose in a disheartened shrug, though she wasn’t certain if he didn’t understand her question or just didn’t know. 

At some point Rey turned her attention into the glass — to the zillo — worried that it would grow tired of their exchange, but the creature seemed quite content to lay between their hands and connect their minds. 

She was about to ask her most pressing question — was there a way for her to escape — when— 

_Rey?_

There was a pained expression in his eyes, a tension that had been growing over their exchange. She hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it because she wasn’t sure what she would do with another problem she couldn’t fix, but now there was a pleading too. She nodded, and he closed his eyes. 

The smoke around him churned and she was in the biolab again, sitting behind Ben’s desk, looking through his eyes. The scene was very hazy and she realized she wasn’t in the room yet — they were learning that sometimes they could bend rule two. She/he started walking quickly towards the door. His strong arm hauled it open and he strode — straight into herself. The images sharpened and the sound kicked in like someone had finally plugged in the speakers. Rey’s books tumbled to the floor. ‘ _Oh, I’m sorry_ ,’ he said, and Ben let the scene fade. 

Rey swallowed. He didn’t show her what he was sorry for. Rey already knew. 

She’d been avoiding this, avoiding the memories from the last forty-eight hours. Thinking about it wasn’t going to help her get out of here. 

She started to wave him off, but the last bit of the scene played again — _/ ‘I’m sorry’ /_ — and then it shifted to the image of a slug again. No, a snail. Yet another nature doc clip. The snail was climbing a leaf, it’s eye stalks swollen and pulsing with psychedelic lines of black and white. The story came back to her. The snail had been infected with a parasite, altering the snail’s behaviour so it would climb to the tops of the leaves. The pulsing eyestalks were attractive to birds, who would eat the snails, become infected and spread the parasite through their droppings to infect more snails. It was a common parasitic cycle, but special in how the parasites controlled the snail’s behaviour. 

As the scene faded out she understood what he was saying. 

_Rey, I’m sorry. I was mind controlled._

Oh hell, what was she supposed to say to that? How did she even feel about it? What— 

— footsteps again.

This time she bolted to look out her eyes. It was Rose, setting down a tray of food. _Shit_. The sun was nearly set. She’d lost track of time. 

She barely looked at Ben as she came back to touch the glass and close her eyes. 

Ben had just dismissed the class. The distance to the door was the same whether she walked to the back of the class, or to the front, but Rey always walked to the front. When she glanced up at him to deliver her casual, ‘ _See you next week,’_ his eyes were already looking up at her. 

She opened her eyes, and was relieved when he just nodded. 

She directed her attention into the glass again, and asked the zillo to break the connection. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter had many scraped drafts, but I think I'm finally happy with it. The story must go on.


	20. Chapter 20

On the outside the zillo pulled away from Ben’s hand while Rey — eyes half-lidded — lay spooned inside his arms. 

On the inside Rey watched Ben vanish and the glass dissolved into the zillo’s mental projection. Its pride was like warm sunshine as it bumped its head against her fingers and for the twelfth time Rey considered that the creature could be leading her into a trap, that it would turn her in the moment the slugs woke. Rey had always been suspicious of things that were too good to be true — in her experience they usually were. But as she studied the creature — more with her mind than her eyes — its intentions seemed plainly written on its surface, unlike the slug’s. 

But even if the creature had only a simple intelligence, if the slugs woke to find her petting it it would raise suspicion. _Shoo_ , she thought. _You’re a very good girl but shooo._ Gently she pushed it away with the back of her hand, but it only rubbed its snout against her knuckles, and the moment she brought her hand back it followed. 

Crap.

She could shoo it harder. 

She could probably fling it off the mattress if she caught it off guard — and if push came to shove she’d probably do that or worse if it meant she could escape — but doing so would attract attention, and, more importantly, she needed the zillo to help her talk to Ben tomorrow. No, couldn’t forcibly make it leave, but it needed to leave somehow — _now_ — before the sun slipped completely behind the horizon.

Her eyes cast about the room and landed on the tray that Rose had left; a whole carrot, a large pile of nuts, an orange power drink — not Rey’s usual brand — and whole rotisserie chicken, cold. 

Could Phasma or Rose have gone to town to buy food? A worry for another time.

Rey stared at the bird and thought about how the skin would be savory and the meat would be juicy. _Mmm._

The little white head whipped around — pausing when it spotted the carcase — and the zillo wriggled frantically to push away from Rey’s hand. 

She breathed a sigh of relief as it plunked to the floor. One less thing to give her away; now if she could take care of some of the others. The zillo might still betray her — intentionally or not — or perhaps the slugs might simply read Ben’s mind and realize what they’d done, but she couldn’t help those things. The only thing she could do was not give herself away. 

She dialed back the day to when she made the bargain with the slug. If it wanted to believe she was a just lonely girl, willing to let it occupy her body in exchange for artificial affection, so be it. Rey had had too much artificial affection in her life to be tempted by it, but she needed the slug to keep dropping its guard.

She let the previous night play through as she rebuilt herself in the slug’s expectations. Flames rekindled as she thought of all the things that slug-Ben had done to her. She immersed herself in how badly she’d wanted more. When it came to the daylight moments, she tucked away the time spent with the zillo and Ben-with-brown-eyes, burying them deep within herself.

The zillo chirped with glee as it pulled strips of meat off the chicken’s thigh as Rey reveled in the feel of Ben’s arms around her. He’d never leave her and they would be happy forever. The light slipped from the sky — and then she felt the slug stir. 

Just like the night before, the zillo perked to attention a moment later, slipping hastily to the floor so it could climb up beside her. 

In the farthest corner of her mind Rey knew that this was it — the moment that the snake might betray her or the slug would see what had happened between them — but she slashed those thoughts to pieces. She couldn’t afford them now.

The zillo’s mouth closed over her temple and the dark glass loomed before her. Its depths were once again filled with a billowing darkness, but this time she did not need to touch the presence to see it clearly. The smoke-like substance was made of millions of particles — smokey grey to jet black — but as they cascaded past her, sometimes one would turn at just the right _angle_ to flash an image. Strange plants, strange creatures. Rey could only catch a few before the smoke began to coalesce. Out of the charcoal torrent a figure formed, hunched and swathed ash robes that were inseparable from the darkness surrounding it. Apparently the slug was adapting its appearance too. 

It stepped towards her and she could sense a note of ire, of irritation. 

Rey dropped to one knee and its mood changed to approval, coating her like a warm slick of oil. She waited as it studied her, its thoughts sliding across hers. The feel of Ben’s head between her thighs sprang to mind. _**Ahh, good. I see that you are enjoying our arrangement.**_

 _Yes_ , she replied meekly and a sense of calm hummed though her body, relaxing her muscles and extinguishing the pulse of embarrassment she’d felt. More chemical reinforcement. 

The figure bagan to pace in front of her. _**You know, I’ve seen how alone you were in the past. I hope you see now how much happier you will be with us.**_

 ** __** _Yes,_ she thought lazily. Another hit of bliss. 

**_I think it would be good for you to take some more time for yourself, before we move on to more bothersome matters. Surely we can spare tonight._ **

Rey was surprised at that — even needy-Rey understood why the slugs wanted her body — but needy-Rey’s second reaction was to think of Ben sucking her earlobe, or neck or tits, and breathlessly agreeing. _Yes_. 

_**Good.**_ The slug’s _voice_ was more like a composite of sounds than a true voice, but even so she could hear its satisfaction. It turned as if to walk back into the billowing torrent, but paused and turned back to her. _**Before I go, is there anything else that you would like to request?**_ The question was casually delivered, but even drugged she could still sense it studying her, waiting to dissect her answer. Her eyes drifted from the figure to the churning darkness behind it. A particle of smoke flashed; lines and dots, some ordered, some random.

She closed eyes so the room would stop swaying. What did she need? What had she wanted yesterday as Ben held her close, lavishing her with his tongue and mouth, as he held her close, calling her— 

_Could he call me ‘Rey’?_ she blurted.

For a fraction of a moment the presence paused. Oh no. Perhaps reminding it of her individuality had been a mistake. But the moment passed, and it gave a slow dip of its hood. _**Of course, my dear. I’m sure that will make him very happy.**_

And with that the zillo detached itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say, to all those who have commented and left kudos on this fic, thank you. And special thanks to those that keep coming back chapter after chapter to drop lines of support. You are all so nice and you’ve given _me_ that positive reinforcement that makes me want to write better and post most often. 
> 
> You all rock.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor correction to chapter 7. I had written: 
> 
> _“Rey was **sixteen** , she lost her virginity to the cute guy from chemistry class; thank god she brought a condom. The next week Rey started on the pill. They dated over the summer but broke it off before she went to university. _
> 
> And now I’m like: isn’t that a bit young to be going to college/university (without using the skipped-a-grade trope)? So the age has been changed to seventeen.
> 
> PS: I know I haven’t put absolutely everything from the chapter warnings into the tags. If you think I should put some/ all of the chapter warning or anything else into the tags please let me know.

By the time Rey reached the end of highschool, she’d been asked out at least a half dozen times — to the movies, to dances, or just to _‘chill’_ — and to all of them she’d simply answered, “ _No thanks._ ” 

It wasn’t until the guy from chemistry class asked her to the senior prom that Rey’s finally said _‘yes’_. It made sense. He was funny and attractive. He hung out in the same circle of friends as Rey. But for Rey the _‘yes’_ had hinged on one other thing: in the fall she would be staying in the city for university while he would be going to an Ivy League school two states over. Their ‘relationship’ had an expiry date — three months tops and then they’d go their separate ways. 

He wouldn’t be leaving _her_. 

Not like her parents had; not like old Mr. Kay and his wife had. 

It wouldn’t be her _fault_. 

At university there were no looming points of separation, so when Rey started to miss the feeling of someone else’s body next to hers she sought out more casual encounters. They were good at the time — they scratched the itch — but afterwards she just felt lonely and bitter. 

She soon decided she was better off on her own. All she needed was her hands and some inspiration. She knew just the tall, dark figure that would help in that department. In her head she could have him all to herself; in her head he’d never leave her. 

It wouldn’t be her _fault_. 

* * *

The zillo slithered over her shoulder and paused — 

— before slipping to the floor.

She might have listened for its exit, but all her attention was drawn to Ben’s breathing, how it wasn’t as deep and even as it had been moments before. 

A faint _sweep sweep_ teased her ears; his eyelashes against her hair as he blinked. 

He shifted back, but only so he could roll her gently to her towards him. She turned and found gold eyes looking at her, looking with that abject devotion that she’d only seen in her fantasies. Her heart beat faster as his hand cupped her face, as his forehead pressed to hers. “Rey,” was all it took to alight her heart in a warm glow. 

“Ben,” she whispered. She couldn’t stop smiling, even as an electric buzz lit up her skin where their lips touched. Her eyes slid shut as she succumbed to the moment (her eyes slid shut so she didn’t have to see his golden eyes).

He made good on the slug’s promise, his mouth and hands worshiping her breasts and clit and cunt. He only used his cock when it was time to feed her.

At times the night felt endless, but then the sky began to lighten and he started to dress her once more. She was still boneless from her last orgasm and there was no room in her mind for thoughts of slugs and snakes as he spooned himself around her. 

As she drifted off to sleep she was too tired to think twice about the deep inhalation he took from the crook of her neck.

* * *

_He was going to take care of her._

_He was going to hold her in his arms and always be there for her._

_She could feel his erection pressed against her backside and she found herself wanting to push back_ — 

She woke with a start and squeezed her eyes shut against the afternoon light. Her heart ached as she stripped away the sleepy fantasy, trading it for the nightmare that was her reality. 

The room was almost exactly the same as yesterday: a bright mid afternoon sky outside; Ben spooned around her; slug inside her head. The only difference was that zillo was not sitting on the armchair; from what she could see the zillo was not in the living room at all. 

She waggled the fingers on her free hand — nothing. She rubbed them together — nothing. 

Crap. 

She couldn’t call it. 

She’d just have to wait. 

At least she could waggle her fingers. Her strength had improved since yesterday. By the end of the night she could actually kneel without support while Ben— 

A throb of want and need and guilt and shame rushed through her all at once. _Oh god_. Some of the _things_ she’d said last night, some of the _sounds_ she’d made… Perhaps this was karma. Perhaps she d— 

Stop it. This isn’t happening because of thoughts that you have had in the past. This isn’t your _fault_. And right now you have more important things to think about, like, like, why are the slugs obsessed with wearing clothes when not having sex? Like, where the fuck are Rose and Phasma whenever they’re not here? Is this the only group of slug-alien-things, or have fifty-million others dropped onto the planet? Are all the slugs _asleep_ during the day? What about when Rose brings in the food just before sundown? Is she on autopilot or is her slug awake? Can it wake the others?

Rey sighed into the quiet space that the questions had formed inside her mind. Even unanswered, they had a calming effect. Before you could answer a question you had to define it. Now if she could only— 

Footsteps. 

Rey closed her eyes and slumped where she lay. 

The footsteps swept past the living room, towards the front door. 

No sound — two — three — f— 

Footsteps, back towards the kitchen, fading. But there was something touching her leg now — ankle, knee, thigh — moving over the sheet that covered them with, accompanied by the faintest whisper of cloth against— 

The zillo popped into her mind as it bumped its head against her fingers, timid then more playful. 

She aimed for a neutral, friendly tone. _Hello_ , she thought, and it gave a little chirp back. _Can you show me_ — 

The creature was dragging her hand across the mattress before she could even finish and then— 

The glass wall appeared inside her mind. 

She ran towards it, searching its depths. There. He materialized as she reached it, sitting and turned away as before. The glass was cool under her fingers. 

_Ben_. 

His head whipped around. _Rey_. He was up in a flash. His ‘boxers’ were longer today, more like shorts, though the fabric and cut were obscured (she still had no sense of what she was wearing). 

She tried to ready her mind for the questions she needed to ask, but the smoke behind him started to shift and part even before his hand was resting fully on the glass. 

She was Ben rushing out the door of the biolab, rushing for something important, rushing right into a set of textbooks that scattered across the floor. She didn’t realize that her eyes bulged quite so wide when she was surprised. ‘ _Oh, I’m sorry,_ ’ she heard Ben say. Her view of herself quickly panned away, out the hallway’s floor-to-ceiling windows and into a sunny meadow where snails climbed skyward on broad leaves. 

The meadow winked out, leaving Rey to take in Ben’s drawn lips and pained brow. 

Oh.

Right. 

They’d been interrupted just after he’d sent that yesterday — before she could acknowledge it — and now, she supposed, he had a whole other night to apologise for. 

His jaw clenched as the moment stretched out. 

How— Shit. How was she supposed to say that she _understood_? And things could have been worse. Much worse, and— shit— well she can’t say _that_ and— 

_Rey?_ His eyes were pleading. A little snippet from the hallway started repeating. 

/ _‘I’m sorry.’_ / _‘I’m sorry.’_ / _‘I’m_ — 

_Ben_ , she interrupted.

She closed her eyes and thought of that moment when the biolab door suddenly flung back and a broad chest careened her, her textbooks dropping to the floor. ‘ _Oh, I’m sorry,_ ’ he’d said. 

They both knelt to grab her books, and she blurted out the only words her frazzled mind could string together. _‘Oh, no problem. Don’t worry about it.’_ She tried not to stare at his forearm as he passed her the texts; she tried to make her smile casual as she accepted them.

Rey opened her eyes. 

His brow was even more furrowed than before. _Rey_ … 

She cut him off with a wave. They didn’t have time for this. She held up a finger, asking for a moment, while she regathered her thoughts and closed her eyes. 

She was in her dorm room staring in the mirror, blinking at herself with shower damp hair. 

She willed the scene to shift.

A damp sandy flat lay in between rough walls of jagged rock and for a moment all was still. The camera pivoted to catch a small lizard running full tilt across the sand; it was just hatched and needed to find food outside the shallow rocky canyon. But something else was moving in the background; dark and rhythmic. Snakes emerged from their nooks and crannies, winding after the lizard. The youngling scrambled up the base of steep, jagged slope. One of the snake lunged, catching a foot. The lizard was being dragged back down, but its other foot clipped the snake and the bite slipped off. The lizard scrambled to safety and the snakes returned to their holes. 

As the scene ended she focused on that feeling of _‘?’_.

She opened her eyes and Ben was still staring past her, lips pulled flat. Come on Ben. You can help me. How do I escape? She quickly ran the sequence again. 

_/ Rey / escape / ? /_

When she looked again, Ben was still staring at the space behind her. She knew he was thinking from the set of his jaw. His eyes flicked here and there and his brow furrowed, and she resisted the urge to send the message again, but when his head started to shake back and forth she interrupted. 

_Ben?_ He couldn’t give up. He had to know _something_. If he felt guilty over what his body had done to her then he must be _aware_ of what was going on. He had to have seen _something_ that could help her. So why was he giving up? _Ben!_

His mouth dropped open as he turned to her, as if he was going to speak but stopped when he remembered it was pointless. / _‘I’m sorry.’_ / he sent quickly, though the tone was different than earlier. 

Now it was Rey’s turn to shake her head. She held her palm out to him, asking for more. _Ben._

His shoulder fell as he sighed. He closed his eyes and the darkness parted to reveal a cave, its walls covered in a thousand crawling termites. And there at their center, one insect that was larger than the rest. A long grey tube suddenly whipped through the tunnels, sending the termites scattering; an anteater, using its sticky tongue to find a meal. The drones formed a wall around the larger one, trying to hurry it away while they sacrificed themselves. 

_Rey_ , he said. / _‘I’m sorry.’_ /

Rey blinked, as the message sunk in. 

_Rey?_

She lifted her hand and nodded numbly; she didn’t need further explanation. 

There would be no escape. 

The slugs would do anything to protect their queen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Q: Was Poe the cute guy from chemistry class? Was Finn? Or was Finn Rey’s foster-brother that she protected from Plutt?
> 
> A: I have no idea. This story isn’t about them. (But if it makes your day better I totally encourage you to headcanon whatever you'd like).
> 
> (((Is it just me or does that ending just kinda punch you in the gut out of nowhere at the end? (((Sorry.))) )))


	22. Chapter 22

Her hand left the glass as she tilted back. 

They were never going to let her go. 

_Rey…_

She could hear his voice but that was all. She’d already turned from the glass wall, teetering on awkward feet that seemed to move on their own accord. 

They were never going to let her go.

_Rey?_

She was in front of the window now. Staring blankly out her eyes at the sideways room. 

She would be trapped like this forever, at least until the slugs discarded her— 

_Rey??_

—discarded her like her parents had. 

The dappled light seemed blinding as it reflected off the floor and up to her eyes. 

_REY??_

Rey blinked. 

The sun hadn’t been like that before; it hadn’t yet swung around the cottage when she woke. There was no way she’d spent that long with Ben — if time was normal here. 

She looked back to the glass wall, far on the other side of her mind. Ben stood both hands — both forearms — pressed to the glass. 

Perhaps time passed differently when they communicated through the zillo, while sending; like in dreams. 

She looked back out the window. A mote of dust caught the sun as it drifted through the empty room, wandering aimlessly.

Fucking hell. What was she doing? 

She blinked and tore herself from the window, marching straight back to the glass wall. She tried to compose herself as she placed her hand on the glass again, and looked up in Ben’s eyes. She hadn’t meant to just leave him there; she just needed a moment. _/ “I’m sorry” /,_ she sent with an apologetic smile. 

But the furrows in Ben’s brow only deepened and the smoke behind him churned faster. She could feel the zillo squirm against her fingers.

Shit. She shouldn’t have walked away. Now he felt bad and she felt bad and— 

A mote of darkness spun behind him, catching the light just so… black lines on a white background, a scattering of dots. She had seen that before, when she spoke to the slug. She squinted. The dots had lines through them. 

Error bars. 

It was a _graph_.

Her free hand reached towards the glass, willing the particle to stop. Ben followed her hand; his eyes widening as she pulled it closer and turned it the right way around. The text was too blurry to read. 

She looked at Ben. _What is it?_ she asked even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. 

He swallowed. _Rey…_

He _knew_ something. 

She could feel herself stand taller as she sharply gestured at the image. _What is it?_

His face finally smoothing as he closed his eyes and the torrent parted. He was at the front of the biolab, writing on the blackboard. He was speaking to the class — Rey could see herself in her usual seat. There was a giggle at the back of the room. A few quick strides and he snatched up a few stapled together pieces of paper from between the two girls sitting there. He flipped through the article as he walked back up to the front, the graph from the mote displayed one one of the pages. “Miss Ko Connix, since you find this article more entertaining than my lesson, would you like to share it with everyone else.” 

When he looked back the girl’s mouth hung open, her face red. 

“No? Miss Stynnix?”

“Um.” The dark-haired wiped any residual smile off her face before continuing. “It’s an article about how the female orgasm is required for ovulation in other species. They make a case that that may have also been true in early humans.” A few nervous chuckles whispered through the lab.

“Thank-you Miss Stynnix. If you’d like your article back you can come get it at the end of class…” 

Rey stood at the glass and her mind spun in two directions. 

One — She’d seen this image in not only Ben’s mind but slug’s as well. But where would the slug have gotten it if not from Ben — or Phasma or Rose or Snoke? If that was true, then between the four of them — _five of them?_ — the slug would have access to a _vast_ body of collective knowledge. Biology, evolution, reproduction, chemistry, biochemistry. It would be a huge head start to someone that was trying to biohack a foreign species. 

Two — In the last forty-eight hours Rey had had more orgasms than she could count. Certainly more than she had had in the last year. Possibly more than in her whole life time. When Ben had sat her up, had her breasts felt heavier? Fuller? Was she not _wetter_ than she’d ever been in her life? She was almost certain that the slug was injecting her with various chemicals at times; the question was ‘which ones’.

 _Rey?_ His voice snapped her out of her analysis. 

His jaw was even more tight than before. 

He _knew_. He knew — at least some — of what they were planning; he was privy to their plans.

 _Ben, what are they going to do?_ Shit, how could she ask that?

 _Rey,_ _/ ‘I’m sorry.’ /_

_Ben, / slug / Rey / ?_

_/ ‘I’m sorry.’ / ‘I’m sorry.’ /_

_/ slug / Rey / Ben / ??_

_/ ‘I’m sorry.’ —_

Footsteps. 

She didn’t bother to check the window. _/ ‘See you next week.’ /_

He gave a quick nod and she broke the connection. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMO, Ben is the only one that should be screaming Rey’s name. 
> 
> (Unimportant head canon: Kaydel and Lusica are best friends, in both this fic and my Kaydel fic (it's not a Reylo fic, though it does have Ben as a side character.)


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I now have a google doc file just to track which chapters should be squished together to form proper Chapters. In case you were wondering, last chapter, this chapter and the next are one such Chapter. 
> 
> Also some new tags being added this chapter and next. 
> 
> On that note, one thing that keeps coming up as I think ahead is nutrition/food. I worry that this fic may not be the best thing for those that are struggling with eating disorders (in an indirect way). I will try to note these things in the end notes of specific chapters.
> 
> _I forgot to mention, this chapter has a content warning in the end notes, sorry!_

Rey followed the footsteps around the room…

 _step- step-_ A squeaky metal hinge and then the sound of pouring water. Rose was watering the plants. 

Rey’d shut her eyes as she came back into her body and luckily the zillo had chosen to beg Rose for food. 

_step- pour- step- step- step- step…_

The footsteps padded away and the zillo trilled as it followed. She was alone, or close to it.

She should be using this time to prepare, to don her alternate persona, to tuck away her conversation with Ben, but bits of conversation kept interrupting.

_/ ‘I’m sorry.’ / ‘I’m sorry.’ /_

The pained look on his face flashed through her mind. What if the sorries weren’t just for what his body had done to hers? What if the sorries were for what was to come? 

The back screen door slammed and the only sound was of Ben’s even huffs on the back of her neck. Rey blinked her eyes open, finding the room darker than she expected. She didn’t have much time, but her mind couldn’t stop vibrating around that one thought. 

What was to come. 

Were they really trying to make her hyperovulate? 

She’d assumed the next step would be some kind of insemination. Rey’d never really thought about falling pregnant; rather, she’d thought about how to _not_ fall pregnant. If they were making her hyperovulate were they hoping that she’d have a multiple pregnancy? Not just twins or triplets but octuplets or some greater number? That would be crazy, here in the middle of nowhere with no medical supplies. Unless the _offspring_ was much smaller than a human infant — like a slug. Is that what they wanted? For her to push out a crop of tiny squirming white slugs? Would their DNA be a hybrid of hers and and the slug’s? Would it literally be her children that destroyed humanity? Or perhaps they wouldn’t be slugs. They might have some different form altogether, with claws or pincers or who knew what else. When it came time for them to be born, what if her body didn’t know what to do and they just had to rip their way out of her from the inside? Maybe the master slug hadn’t bothered to hack her brain because it was planning to abandon her once she’d served its purpose. 

_No surprise there_ , she supposed and a tear collected at the corner of her eye, and as she closed them it soaked silently into the pillow.

Her breath hitched. 

_Oh no._

She can’t fall apart now. She’d pulled herself together once today already — inside her mind — but that was at the thought of not being able to get away. This… 

Her breath hitched again. 

Her eyes flicked to the window; the light was nearly gone. She should already be eagerly awaiting the slug to entrust her with new instructions, for Ben to _take care of her_ — though somehow she knew tonight was going to be different. 

She needed to get a handle on herself, play the part they expected, but the whirlwind of her thoughts kept tearing her _need_ away, even as she tried to wrap herself in it. 

Her breath hitched a third time— 

— and the slug flexed within her. 

Rey froze — by choice, but she was vibrating on the inside. Her eyes closed and a second tear bled into the pillow. Had the slug noticed her unsteady breath? Could it taste the salinity of her tears as they drained to the back of her throat? Or would it just read her intentions through the zillo because she could _not - get - her - fucking - head - on - straight_? Why couldn’t she— 

—too late. The familiar pressure of the zillo wound up her legs over the sheet.

She tried again to swath herself in wishful half-truths, but they were hastily fashioned at best. 

The zillo slithered up behind her; it must be on top of Ben. She braced for the connection, to be _seen_ by the slug. Could it completely lock away her consciousness into a dark box inside her mind? Or would it just paralyse her permanently now?

Her chest hitched again and now the tears were flowing. She’d had some of her happiest moments in this last year — she was enjoying school and life and friends — and now it would be all over. 

Tears dripped from her nose as a tension in her chest grew. 

But the pressure to her temple didn’t come. 

Instead there came a voice, deep and concerned. “Rey?”

It was just like out of one of her fantasies, they type where she might be crying somewhere — injured or jilted or just plain lonely. She would have hidden herself away in some obscure corner of the biology library, not wanting to bother anyone, and he’d poke his head around the corner and ask if he could help. She’d apologise and not want to bother him, but he’d say it wasn’t a bother. He’d sit right next to her and put an arm around her shoulder and she could tell him her troubles, and after she’d say sorry again but he’d wave it off and instead invite her to a bar that night with the other bio grads, or perhaps to a special lecture, and that would queue the next fantasy, the one where he more than just held her. 

In any case, that was how he sounded then. “Rey, are you okay?” His arms gently rolled her to him, cradling her face into her chest as the sobs started. 

She wanted to think of nothing of slugs, or breeding, or world domination. If only she could stay inside this moment with Ben’s arms wrapped around her — but even that thought held a sour note, because it wasn’t really him. _I’m sorry, Ben. I couldn’t do it,_ she cried into his chest before her sobs receded. 

“Hey…” his voice came again, this time with a finger under her chin, asking her to look up. How could the slugs do that — seem so real at times, like it was really him comforting her?

His eyes were still golden, but the look of concern was just as she’d imagined it. She might have given in then, to wanting to stay frozen inside that moment. She might have let him stare at her like that forever — excepted she caught the flick of a white tail disappearing into his hair as she looked at him. 

“Are you okay?”

The slug had instructed the zillo to commune with him, not her, this morning. 

The game was still on. 

Rey quickly tightened the cloak of her alternate persona around her, that feeling of wanting to stay in his arms and be protected. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed trying to look away. “I’m just — scared,” she confided, just as she might to Ben in her fantasies. 

“Hey…” He lifted her chin again so she’d have to look in his eyes. “You’re doing really great. You can do this, Rey, and I’m going to be right here with you,” he smiled.

The smile back came easily. It would have been a lie of a smile a few moments ago, but now her alter-ego was fully enshrouding her. She had pleased him, and he was going to stay with her. Everything was going to be okay.

His grin widened in return. “Things are going to be a little different over the next couple days,” he spoke softly, “but I’ll show you what you need to do. But let’s worry about that later. Are you hungry?”

She nodded instantly. She was always hungry for him. 

“Good.” He started working on his buckle. “We might not get another chance for a little while.” And with that he slipped down his pants. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: thoughts/fears of pregnancy, multiple pregnancies (twins and higher), alien pregnancies. Food control, mentions of food restriction. 
> 
> So yeah, the next chapter will round out the Chapter. Bonus: it's mostly all written.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Content warning in the end notes. Sorry if this was late for anyone._

Rey closed her eyes as the hot spray from the showerhead washed over her face and onto her well lathered hair. 

As promised her _meal_ had been longer than usual. At some point her guts had started to churn — likely from pure volume — and she’d had to excuse herself to the bathroom. Phasma materialized out of nowhere and accompanied her once again, and after she Rey’s innards had finally stopped — the colour was nearly the same translucent blue that comprised her _intake_ — the tall woman had suggestedthat perhaps she would like a shower. Rey got the distinct impression it was more than a suggestion. 

She’d stripped under the unaffected gaze of her escort, and inside the shower she found her own bottle of 2-in-1 shampoo-conditioner. Someone must have brought it down from the showershack by the cabins. Phasma had offered no explanation; asking didn’t seem worth the risk. 

She was almost surprised when Phasma had let her close the shower curtain, though there was little reason not too. There was no window to jump out of, and other than her shampoo there wasn’t a single other item in the shower — not even a washcloth or plug. The knobs had squeaked when she’d turned them; the water was instantly hot, as if someone had already run the water before she entered. 

Rey raked her fingers through her hair as the rich lather coursed down her torso and down the drain. It felt so good to be clean again. She hadn’t noticed how sticky her body was until all the dried bits had turned slick and gooey under the hot spray; it took more than a few minutes to scrub it all off. 

She lamented as the last of the lather washed out of her hair and wondered if she could stretch out her time alone, but when Phasma asked, “Are you alright, my Queen?” Rey knew it was time to go. 

She took the towel that Phasma offered and stood in the middle of the bathroom as she dried herself. For once she could see out the bathroom’s high-set window. A carefully plotted garden lay outside — the back garden of the cottage — but scattered all over were empty patches where plants had been ripped from the ground. 

Her clothes had been removed so she simply wrapped the towel around her and nodded to her personal guard. 

Ben was sitting in the armchair eating another hodgepodge meal off a huge platter, tossing scraps to the zillo on the floor in front of him. 

At their appearance he stood, discarded the platter, and greeted her with a hand cupping her cheek. “How do you feel?” He looked at her like she was the center of his world, and she let than feeling multiply inside her, feeding her alter-ego. 

“Good.” She could help but smile under his gaze. 

“Good.” He kissed her on the forehead. Was the warm feeling in her heart real? Or manufactured? “Wait for me. I’ll be back soon.” He snatched the zillo off the floor and pushed past them. 

The sheets on the mattress had been changed while she was out; black. Black too were the new curtains that hung over the windows. 

Rey heard a familiar _squeak_ from the bathroom as she dropped the towel to the floor and arranged herself under the blankets. Phasma took up station by the entrance to the living room; Rose scurried in to clear the towel and plate. 

Rey stared at the ceiling in obedient anticipation. At least that’s how she hoped it looked. 

It still didn’t feel real — what was about to happen. Every instinct told her she should be running, should be fighting tooth and nail, but— 

_Patience._

The thought was not an intrusion… more like the awakening of a long forgotten memory, though she couldn’t quite place the who or when. 

She wanted to scoff. She didn’t want to be patient. But where had she h— 

Something was sliding up her leg. Had the zillo gotten away from Ben to come see her? She had to be careful. If it touched her the slug take the chance to examine her mind again. 

Rey started to sit up— 

— and froze halfway as she gazed into dark serpentine eyes. It was a zillo — snake-like body, translucent white scales, wide mouth — but not the one from the last two days. This one was larger — as wide as her thumb whereas the other was as slender as her pinky and its muscles were far easier to pick out under its undulating scales. 

It had its head held high so it could stare her down as it stood on her chest. It sniffed at her before snorting in derision. 

If she moved the wrong way, would it bite her? Was the slug making it do this? Or was it unaware?

“ _Hey!_ ” Phasma’s fingers grabbed the zillo just under the head, lifting it so they could glower at each other. 

Rey let out the breath she had been holding as Ben materialized in the door. “What’s going on?” he said leadenly. His hair was still wet, and he was dressed only in a… towel.

“I—” Phasma stuttered.

“Get out. I’ll take things from here.” 

Slug-Phasma meekly bowed her head and, offending zillo in hand, left — leaving Rey alone with Ben.

Outside: “Thank-you,” and a smile — even though it was Phasma that had pulled the creature off her. 

Inside: was the larger zillo not fully under the slug’s control, or was the whole thing staged to endear her to Ben?

“Of course.” 

It was only just as Ben unwrapped the towel that Rey realized why it looked odd. He had it wrapped so high that it covered his abdomen; another of the slugs’ quirks. As his towel hit the floor and she caught sight of his erection, she tried to paint a smile on her face. 

Inside: _Fuck fuck fuck fuck, this is it_. She shifted over to make room as he too slid under the sheet. 

“Hi,” he whispered and the tenderness of the word caught her off guard, so different than when he was talking to Phasma. She supposed that she wasn’t the only one putting on a show. 

She met his glinting eyes. “Hi.” she said, just like they were on some bad first date. She wished her voice was stronger. 

“Sorry about that.”

She blinked, and it took a moment to realize he was talking about the zillo. _Hm_ , where had the smaller one gone to? “No problem.” 

He cupped her face. “Good. This next part is going to be a little different,” — Clever; the slug was using Ben to deliver the bad news, — “but I’m going to be right here with you, okay?”

She nodded. 

“Do you know what the next part is, Rey?” 

She shivered at how his voice resonated when he said her name. She glanced down and nodded again. She reached down and as he twitched to attention in her hand there was an echo of need deep in her core. 

She knew _more_ was expected but maybe she could buy a few more minutes under the guise of foreplay. _Fuck_ , he was so firm and he seemed even _wider_ than before, at least at the base. Were the slugs able to modify their hosts physically? 

She let her need take control, as she stroked him up and down. She sighed. He groaned. On the inside she wondered if it would be a quick one shot deal; she couldn’t fathom any need to draw it out. 

She hummed and smiled as Ben shifted closer to her. So much of his skin collided against hers. She tried to hang on to the sensation; one pleasant memory to keep.

He would make his move soon. She gave his cock one last grip, trying to meet fingertip to thumb as she eased half way down his length to fully wrap her fingers around him. 

She might have continued down when he pulsed. No, not pulsed. That extra firmness at the base of his cock seemed to extend up his length. She could feel it pushing towards the tip, making his already firm dick rock hard in no pattern that made anatomical sense.

The sheet had slipped down and she could just peak under the edge — to see a white snake-like head emerge from the tip.

Her hand recoiled and her _need_ cracked wide open. “ _What the FUCK?!_ ” She turned to run, but broad hands were already on her hips and arms. 

“Don’t worry, Rey. It’s all going to be fine.” His voice was smooth — not even breathless — as she pushed and kicked against him. 

_Fuck_. She tried to pull his hands off her but in a flash he was between her legs, his hands pinning her wrists to the mattress on either side of her head. “Come on, Rey. Can you do this? For me?”

Her muscles burned and her skin ached where his hands gripped her. His legs were a tangle on top of hers and his torso pressed down on her pelvis, immobilizing her. She kept trying to change the angle that she pulled her arms but he was just so _strong_ — 

The slug flexed and she froze — voluntarily. 

_Fuck_. 

No matter what she did they were going to take what they wanted. 

She closed her eyes, trying to block it all out. She was going to be used and sooner or later she would be discarded. She— 

_pat-_

There was something warm and wet on her cheek. She cracked an eye to see tears rimming Ben’s again. 

_Ben..._

Before she had chosen to submit because she hadn’t wanted him to watch her struggle. But if she struggled now it wasn’t just her freedom she was jeopardizing. It was his too. 

Sometimes you survived by bending; Rey had to survive.

Rey didn’t smile, but she let her muscles go slack and widened her hips a fraction of an inch. 

The zillo must have retreated inside him because she couldn’t feel its presence as he lined himself up against her — that was her last coherent thought before he pressed into her and she was carried off on a wave of bliss. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: Non-con/rape - being physically over powered as a lead up to forced intercourse. Also, the weird stuff is starting and I don’t even know what to call it - monsterfucking? Inclusion of pets during sex? Not-quite-beastiality? 
> 
> I'm very nervous because:  
> \- the weird stuff is starting (hides face in hands)  
> \- and I worry that I'm becoming repetitive with concepts/phrases (this thing is going to need such an overhaul by the time its done).


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  New commissioned mood-board by [@CuriousNiffin](https://twitter.com/curiousniffin).
> 
> Hello all. I'm so sorry about the break in the updates. Between work and watching the election, all my spare time just seemed to disappear. I’ve written this in dribs and drabs but after re-reading chapter 24 a few nights ago I really wanted to get at least this much done and posted. No promises on future updates but I do really want to get this going again.
> 
> Since it’s been so long I’ll recap the story / last chapter for you:
> 
> \- Biology student Rey has been pining for her TA Ben, and now she has an alien slug _*cough*palpatine*cough*_ stuck at the back of her nasal passages, trying to take over her brain. 
> 
> \- Over the last several days the slugs have been carefully preparing Rey’s body (the only body in the group that is currently ovulating) possibly for some pseudo-reproductive purpose. 
> 
> \- In chapter 24, as Ben rejoined Rey on the mattress-turned-sex-alter, she panics when she sees one of the zillo (the cute snake thing) emerging from his urethra, but struggle isn’t really an option and ... 
> 
> _Rey didn’t smile, but she let her muscles go slack, widening her hips a fraction of an inch._
> 
> _“The zillo must have retreated inside him because she couldn’t feel its presence as he lined himself up against her — that was her last coherent thought before he pressed into her and she was carried off on a wave of bliss.”_
> 
> PS: There is a CONTENT WARNING in the end notes.

(Well… 

…actually… 

…it wasn’t _quite_ like that. 

Being carried off. 

The wave was more like a freight train. 

It had crashed over her with an effervescent glow, but beneath its surface she was immersed in darkness. The warm waters made her skin tingle while they spun and flipped her. She lost all sense of direction as the relaxing buzz seeped into her bones, making her arms heavy. She tried to fight — to swim in any direction — but the waters were so comforting and soon she found herself breathing the darkness as easily as she would breathe air, trying to bring the warmth deeper inside her. 

It felt so good; like touching herself on a sleepy afternoon. 

And as the waters lulled her senses, dark tendrils rose from the depths to twist around her limbs; slippery, muscular. They bound her tightly as new neuropeptides coursed through her blood, incapacitating the higher circuits of her brain.

She started to hallucinate. Of cheetahs fucking on the savannah. Of praying mantises getting their heads bitten off. Of frogs and rodents and ducks all trying to mount their partners. Of snakes twisted into mating balls. Of cats in heat, wolves in heat. Of porn. The carnal images rose past her like bubbles, the endless fuck-scroll consuming her limited attention.

Perhaps that’s why she would only remember being carried off on a wave of bliss… 

...off past the cheetahs… off past the ducks… off past that want of being fucked and fucked and fucked…)

* * *

_Rey followed tightly in Rose’s wake so that they wouldn’t become separated as students steamed past them in the other direction._

_She almost ran into Rose when the shorter woman stopped at a T in the hall._

_“It’s… one-seventeen,” Rose announced, but Rey already knew that._

Bio-Sciences Building, Room 117 _. Rey had memorized a map of the first floor yesterday but she just quietly just nodded. They still had two minutes until the bell._

_Another moment passed as Rose stared at the seemingly nonsensical rows of arrows and numbers. “Mmm. This way,” and they were off again down the hall to the left._

_They’d met during frosh week and somehow Rose had become Rey’s new best friend almost instantly. Perhaps it was mostly by Rose’s jubilant insistence, not that Rey didn’t appreciate it. Rey had stressed about leaving her old school — and her old home — stressed about having to meet new people, but here she was, the first week of school with a new friend who shared most of her classes._

_The halls were packed with wide-eyed students, but they still made it to the door with a minute to spare. Being late for this class was definitely not an option if she wanted to keep her grades up, along with not having assignments done or not having answers. Paige, Rose’s older sister, had made that clear when she saw who their TA was going to be as the three of them sat in the caf. According to her Ben Solo was picky and precise at the best of times, and at worst of times condescending and just plain mean (and he had earned that reputation after only TAing for one year)._

_But as Rey pushed through the doors and locked eyes with the tall, darkly dressed figure leaning against the large lab table at the front of the class, Rey realized something else._

_Ben Solo was… gorgeous._

_She swallowed as she tore her eyes away to follow Rose across the room._

* * *

In the dark water the tendrils still bound her arms and legs, holding her spread eagle. Her full attention was on her breath, the water flowed in and out of her like sin. She would not have chosen to leave — she couldn’t move anyway — but suddenly the surface brokes around her face, and she squinted as velvet black gave way to blinding grey. 

She coughed, weakly, as some of the water drained from her mouth. Her body still ticked and twitched with tiny aftershocks of pleasure, but without being able to breathe the dark waters — without being able to drown in them — she started to feel empty. Moments stretching into eons. 

Unsupported, her head lolled to the side and one eye nearly touched the water again, but she could not reach it with her mouth. 

Frustrated, her eyes cast about to the distance. More grey. Mist, she realized. A fine mist that quickly obscured the waters around her. Nothing to help her sink beneath the comfort of the waves again. 

She forced her head to flop the other way. Yes. Another wave, cresting towards her, promising sweet oblivion, but at a snail’s pace, as if time had slowed. 

Her body started to ache with emptiness.

She tugged weakly with her arm, trying to roll herself towards the wave, but the tendrils held her firm. 

Was it getting closer? It was hard to tell. What if the wave never got to her? She felt panicked. Her eyes darted about — which is how she noticed the window, facing her from above. 

How had she missed it before?

The simple frame was suspended in the grey mist, and through it… through it was white plaster and dark wood beams. The corner of a room. 

The panic drained away as she willed the scene to shift. The window panned to the side, enough to bring the top of a dark mop of hair to the edge of its view.

 _Ben_.

She could feel her body now — her _outside_ body — and she could feel his too, on top of hers, limbs intertwined and… and she could feel herself stretching around him. _Oh fuck_ he felt _huge_. 

And then she remembered being directed to the mattress — it’s new dark sheets making it look like some unholy altar. She remembered Ben joining her and — and he had had _the snake_ up his _dick_. 

In slow motion she could feel him shifting above her, and she realized that he wasn’t even all the way in yet. The mop of hair inched up through the window, agonizingly slow, as she sensed the waters creeping higher around her face. His weight shifted forward as the waters started to sluice over her, plunging her into darkness. 

But now she fought what she had craved only moments. 

_Ben._

The name was like a flame in her mind, a tiny spark in the darkness. 

She needed to hold on. For Ben. For Rose. For… for… 

She gasped and sputtered when she surfaced again, the grey mist and the window still in place. He was deeper now, stretching her even more now. And _fuck_ it felt so good. Something that size _should_ hurt — at least a bit — but, it just felt _good_. 

_Another of the slug’s tricks?_ she wondered as she tried to clear her head.

Even from the inside she could feel his ear brush against hers as he shifted forwards again and, strangely, she regretted that she couldn’t see his face. Not that she’d ever spent much time staring into the eyes of the young men she’d been with; she’d quickly learned just to close her eyes when she found them closing theirs. Shouldn’t this be the part that she tries to block out? To take in as few details as possible. Then why did she suddenly want to commit this moment to memory? To glance up at him, and find him staring back? Was the slug amping up her old fantasies — or was it just… her?

She held her breath as another wave passed over, and after she’d spluttered away the crystal waters she realized he’d finally come to rest inside her, nudging her legs up so he could rest more weight on her pelvis without injuring her. Even in the time-slow, she could tell his breaths were ragged.

Without warning the zillo appeared. On the outside she could feel its snout rooting around at the base of her cervix, whereas inside the snake swam to perch atop her abdomen, causing her torso to sink a tiny bit more beneath the surface. It was strange how much larger the zillo seemed when she saw it inside her mind. 

And that’s where she was, she supposed — the room inside her mind — only it was tipped on its side and all the walls were washed away. Only the window remained. 

The zillo peered down at her, but not with it’s usual friendly bob. Was the slug watching through it? Or would the slug make it connect her to Ben, even as it forced Ben’s body to— 

But the zillo’s projection just curled up on her abdomen, while the real zillo seemed to have found what it wanted. It was incredible how she could feel it pressing its snout to the center of her cervix. She was vaguely aware that the rest of it lay in an almost straight line leading out of her — presumably still inside of Ben — but her attention was drawn to its tongue as it slowly pushed forward to begin to breach her uterus.

She tried to hang on as she felt the pinch-turned-pleasure, and another wave crashed over her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: Drowning imagery. Non-consensual sexual contact / rape. And the snake is involved.


End file.
